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The  Drama 

of 

Honore  de  Balzac 


BY 


WALTER  SCOTT  HASTINGS 


A  UiSSERTATION 

SUBMITTED    IV    Xiii      BOARD    OF    UNIVERSITY    STUDIES    OF    THE   JOHNS 

HOPKINS  UNIVERSTTy   • -^   CONFORMITY  WITH  THE  REQUIREMENTS 

FOB.  THE  L.CGREE  OF  DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY 


BALTIMORE 

1917 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2008  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/dramaofhonordeOOhastrich 


THE  DRAMA 

OF 

HONORE  DE  BALZAC 


The  Drama 

of 

Honore  de  Balzac 


BY 

WALTER  SCOTT  HASTINGS 


A  DISSERTATION 

SUBMITTED   TO    THE    BOARD    OF    UNIVERSITY   STUDIES    OF    THE   JOHNS 

HOPKINS  UNIVERSITY  IN  CONFORMITY  WITH  THE  REQUIREMENTS 

FOR  THE  DEGREE  OF  DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY 


BALTIMORE 
1917 


GEORGE  BANTA  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 
MENASHA,  WISCONSIN 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Chapter  I.    Introduction 1 

Chapter  II.    Unfruitful  Attempts  at  the  Drama IS 

Chapter  III.     Vi^cole  des  minages 37 

Chapter  IV.     Vautrin 52 

Chapter  V.    Les  Ressources  de  Quinola 72 

Chapter  VI.    Pamela  Giraud 92 

Chapter  VII.    La  Mardtre 103 

Chapter  VIII.     Mercadet 115 

Chapter  IX.    Conclusions 138 

Bibliography 147 

Appendix 153 

Vita 159 


H 


4S1845 


I 

INTRODUCTION 

Honore  de  Balzac,  the  novelist  and  short-story  writer,  has  been 
the  object  of  countless  critical  and  popular  studies.  Nearly  every 
phase  of  the  author's  work  has  been  treated,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
mass  of  biographical  data  that  patient  and  painstaking  critics  have 
collected.  In  Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul's  extremely  valuable  book, 
devoted  to  the  history  of  Balzac's  works,^  there  are  no  less  than 
forty-five  pages  of  critical  bibliography.  The  present  study,  how- 
ever, will  deal  with  a  phase  of  his  work  which  has  been  purposely 
neglected  by  the  majority  of  Balzac  students:  his  drama.  Such 
studies  as  have  been  already  made  are  far  from  complete,  and  the 
Balzac  drama  remains  little  known  in  its  entirety.^  Marcel  Barriere, 
whose  treatment  of  Balzac's  literary  labors  is  for  the  most  part 
sympathetic  and  exact,  dismisses  the  drama  with  a  few  general  con- 
siderations such  as  the  following:  "Un  romancier  a  tou jours,  plus 
ou  moins,  le  temperament  d'un  auteur  dramatique."^  In  Bire's 
excellent  volume,  the  author  has  brought  to  light  a  quantity  of  inter- 
esting biographical  material  concerning  Balzac  historian,  royalist 
and  dramatist,. but  in  treating  the  latter  phase  he  has  confined  him- 
self more  especially  to  a  history  of  the  plays,  to  a  discussion  of  the 
successive  stages  leading  to  their  production  or  refusal  by  Parisian 
theatrical  directors.  Paul  Flat,  in  his  essay  of  fifteen  pages,  traces 
the  motives  which  induced  Balzac  to  write  plays,  the  cause  of  his 
failure,  and  concludes  summarily  that  the  drama  is  a  negligible  part 
of  his  work.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  mention  here  the  pages  in 
Lemer's  work  on  Balzac^  which  contain  merely  a  few  personal  recol- 
lections of  the  plays.  M.  Le  Breton  would  like  to  find  in  the  drama 
some  germ  of  Balzac's  influence  upon  the  realistic  stage,  but  concludes, 
and  with  reason,  that  the  younger  Dumas  and  Augier  found  inspira- 

^  Histoire  des  osuvres  de  HofwrS  de  Balzac,  1879;  second  edition,  1886;  third  edition, 
1888.     References  in  this  study  are  to  the  third  edition. 

^  See  especially  Edmond  Eire,  Honore  de  Balzac,  1897;  Paul  Flat,  Seconds  Essais 
sur  Balzac,  1894. 

3  VCEuvre  de  Balzac,  1890,  p.  453. 

*•  Balzac:  sa  vie — son  oeuvre,  1892,  pp.  338-343. 


V 


2  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONOr£  DE  BALZAC 

tion  not  in  the  actual  stage  productions  of  this  "father  of  realism," 
but  in  the  Human  Comedy.* 

However  negative  the  results  that  may  be  obtained,  the  motives 
which  tempted  the  great  novelist  to  write  plays  and  the  fashion  in 
which  he  conceived  them,  his  knowledge  of  the  theatre  of  his  day  and 
his  actual  contact  with  the  stage  are  all  questions  which  should 
interest  the  Balzac  student.  To  treat  these  questions,  emphasizing 
the  fact  that  Balzac  was  haunted  throughout  his  life  by  the  desire 
for  dramatic  success,  and  that  at  no  time  was  his  mind  entirely  free 
of  theatrical  projects,  is  the  purpose  of  this  study. 


Theatrical  projects  occupied  Balzac's  mind  during  the  whole  of 
his  literary  career.  During  the  labor  of  composition  of  the  unlucky 
^cole  des  menages^  the  author  wrote  to  Armand  Pereme: 

J'ai,  depuis  dix  ans,  travaill6  en  vue  du  th6&tre,  et  vous  connaissez  mes  id6es  i 
cet6gard.  EUes  sont  vastes,  et  leur  realization  m'effraie  souvent.  Mais  je  ne  manque 
ni  de  Constance  ni  de  travaux  refaits  avec  patience.  .  .  .  [Pour  r6ussir,]  il  ne  faut 
que  du  travail,  soutenu  de  quelque  chose  que  je  me  sens  en  moi:  motus^? 

There  is  the  same  note  of  tireless  endeavor  in  these  lines  that  Balzac 
voiced  so  often  about  the  composition  of  his  novels.  At  the  time 
this  letter  was  written,  the  author  of  le  Dernier  Chouan^  le  Pbre 
Goriot  and  Eugenie  Grandet  had  already  become  a  name  in  Parisian 
literary  circles,  and  was  safely  on  the  road  to  novelistic  success.  The 
idea,  however,  of  placing  his  figures  of  fiction  directly  before  an 
audience,  and  the  desire  to  see  the  strong  reflection  of  the  footlights 
in  their  faces  never  ceased  to  torment  him.  Balzac  himself  recounts 
the  warning  which  the  poet  Heine  once  made  to  him  when  the  two 
were  discussing  the  stage: 

Prenez-y  garde:  celui  qui  s'est  habitu6  ^  Brest  ne  pent  pas  s'accoutumer  & 
Toulon.     Restez  dans  votre  bagne.' 

This  advice  we  know  Balzac  did  not  heed.  Besides  his  six  published 
plays,  we  have  the  evidence  of  numerous  other  dramatic  projects 
from  scattered  fragments,  scenarios,  scenes  and  lists  of  personages.® 

^Balzac,  Vhomme  et  Voeuvre,  1905. 

•December  4,  1838.  Letter  published  in  Lovenjoul's  Aulour  de  Honori  de 
Balzac,  p.  119. 

'  LEU,  Vol.  I,  p.  412.  July  19,  1837. 

•At  the  death  of  the  Viscount  Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul,  a  most  ardent  and 
consciencious  bibliophile,  his  magnificent  collection  of  Balzaciana,  including  the 
theatrical  fragments,  became  the  property  of  the  French  government,  and  was  placed 
at  Chantilly  under  the  care  of  M.  Georges  Vicaire.  See  £.  Henriot,  in  les  Annates 
romantiques,  Vol.  XI,  1.  1914. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  3 

Why  then  was  Balzac  attracted  towards  the  theatre?  > 

We  find  a  partial  solution  of  the  question  in  one  of  the  greatest    I   \ 
factors  in  his  life:     the  neM  of  money.     A  successful  play  meant    ' 
primarily  to  the  novelist  a  solution  of  pressing  financial  difficulties, 
and  at  what  period  of  his  life  was  he  free  from  these?     From  the    , 
miserable  days  in  the  Lesdiguieres  garret,  the  desire  for  wealth    j 
became  an  obsession,  and  at  no  moment  in  his  career  did  the  furtive 
millions  come  within  his  grasp.     They  constitute,  as  it  were,  the 
great  romance  and  the  great  tragedy  of  his  life,  and  no  study  of 
Balzac  can  be  separated  from  this  theme.     When  the  novelist  set 
out  with  the  energy  of  Napoleon  to  conquer  Europe  with  his  pen,' 
the  gigantic  labor  of  his  task  and  the  fury  of  his  production  were 
scarcely  in  proportion  to  the  financial  returns  they  brought  him: 

Pour  me  liquider,  cette  effroyable  production  de  livres,  qui  a  entrain6  des  masses 
d'^preuves,  ne  sufl5t  pas:  II  faut  en  venir  au  thSdtre,  dont  les  revenus  sont  finormes 
conipar^s  k  ceux  que  nous  font  les  livres.^" 

Again  he  writes: 

Le  th6&tre  me  vaudrait  deux  cent  mille  francs  par  an.  Je  sais,  k  n'en  pas  douter, 
que  j'y  ferais  en  peu  de  temps  ma  fortune,  mais  vous  oubliez  que  je  n'ai  pas  six  mois 
k  moi,  ni  un  mois,  sans  cela  je  n'eusse  pas  fait  une  pi^ce,  j'aurais  6t6  vous  voir." 

Dramatic  works,  he  repeats  time  and  time  again,  are  more  productive 
than  novels,  and  his  whole  attitude  towards  them  was  one  of  confi- 
dence in  their  financial  success.  On  the  eve  of  Vautrin,  his  principal 
interest  and  anxiety  seems  to  have  been  centered  about  this  one  fact: 

Jugez  quelles  seront  mes  angoisses  pendant  la  soir6e  oii  Vautrin  sera  repr6sent6. 
Dans  cinq  heures  de  temps,  il  sera  decide  si  je  paie  ou  si  je  ne  paie  pas  mes  dettes.^ 

Again,  he  says  of  Vautrin: 

n  paralt  que  je  puis  compter  sur  un  grand  succ^s  d'argent;  je  I'ai  faite  pour  cela." 

As  rapidly  as  theatrical  propositions  were  made  to  Balzac,  he  calcu- 
lated their  probable  financial  result  scene  by  scene.  Speaking  of  a 
proposed  play  called  la  Gina,  he  writes  to  Mme  Hanska: 

•  "Ce  qu'il  avait  commenc6  par  r6p6e,  je  Tach^verai  par  la  plume,"  Balzac  is 
related  to  have  inscribed  on  a  statuette  of  the  Emperor.  Gozlan,  Balzac  chez  luiy 
1862,  p.  214. 

"  LEt.,  Vol.  I,  p.  273.      August  23,  1835. 

"  Ibid.,  p.  240.    March  11,  1835. 

»*  Ibid.,  p.  530.     February  10,  1840. 

"  Ibid.,  p.  525.    January  20,  1840. 


4  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

Les  propositions  ne  me  manquent  pas.  On  m'offre,  d'un  cote,  vingt  mille  francs 
de  prime,  pour  quinze  actes,  et  j'ai  les  quinze  actes  dans  la  t6te,  mais  non  sur  le  papier.** 

It  is  with  a  note  of  despair  that  Balzac  describes  to  Mme  Zulma 
Carraud  the  refusal  by  the  Renaissance  of  his  J^cole  des  menages. 
He  needed  six  thousand  francs  by  the  end  of  February;  he  began  to 
work  feverishly  at  his  play,  sleeping  three  hours  out  of  the  twenty- 
four,  employing  twenty  extra  men  at  the  printing  office.  The  play 
was  turned  down  for  a  new  production  of  Dumas'.^^ 
^  Not  until  Balzac  began  to  meditate  his  comedy  Mercadet  do  we 
find  him  enthusiastic  over  a  theatrical  success  in  any  other  light  than 
financial.     Mercadet  was  to  his  mind  something  worth  while: 

C'est  exclusivement  une  comedie,  et  j'esp^re  cette  fois  avoir  un  succ^s  et  satisfaire 
les  exigences  litteraires.*^ 

Mercadet,  he  declares,  is  a  gay  production  which  should  enliven  and 
elevate  the  disgusting  atmosphere  of  the  boulevard  stage.^^ 

But  the  desire  for  gain  was  not  the  only  spur  which  goaded  Balzac 
on  to  play  writing.     In  1842,  he  writes  to  Mme  Hanska: 

Je  vais  voir  un  drame  h.  I'Oddon,  celui  qui  me  pr6c&de,  Cidric-le-Norw6gien,  de 
Pyat.  Hier  Lorenzino,  de  Dumas,  est  tomb^;  la  Chaine,  de  Scribe,  n'a  pas  6t6  un  succSs. 
Ce  serait  bien  beau  pour  moi  si  j'6tais  le  succds  de  la  saison!*^ 

The  ambition  to  succeed  in  more  than  one  type  of  literary  production 
helped  to  turn  Balzac  to  the  stage.  Other  novelists — in  fact,  most 
of  the  contemporaries — had  tried  their  hand  at  the  theatre,  and 
were  being  talked  about.  Hugo  had  produced  Lucrece  Borgia  and 
Marie-Tudor  in  1833,  Angelo  in  1835,  and  Ruy  Bias  in  1838;  Vigny's 
novels,  Cinq-Mars  and  Stello,  were  followed  in  1835  by  a  play.  Chatter- 
ton;  and,  finally,  Dumas  became  immensely  popular  for  a  time  after 
Henri  III  and  Antony.  George  Sand  was  likewise  writing  for  the 
stage,  and  Balzac  confesses  that  it  is  the  diversity  of  Musset's  work 
that  pleases  him.^^  But  these  romantic  plays  were  short-lived,  and 
the  public  soon  became  dissatisfied  with  the  ordinary  type  of  melo- 
drama. In  1840,  Hernani  and  la  Marechale  d'Ancre  failed.  Vigny 
did  not  possess  the  dramatic  instinct,  and  left  the  stage  early. 

**  LEt.,  Vol.  I,  p.  489.     September  17,  1838. 

^  Corr.,  p.  327.    March,  1839. 

«  LEL,  Vol.  I,  p.  536.     May  10,  1840. 

"  LEL,  Vol.  II,  p.  329.     March  11,  1844. 

i8/6iJ.,  p.  21. 

"  La  Rente  parisienne,  August  25,  1840. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  5 

Dumas,  moreover,  was  forced  to  amuse  his  audiences  with 
immense  kaleidoscopic  effects.     In  1838,  Gautier  writes: 

Le  mouvement  si  energiquement  imprime  a  Tart  dramatique  par  Christine, 
Hernani,  Henri  III,  ne  s'est  pas  continue ;  nous  avons  cm  un  moment  que  nous  allions 
avoir  un  theatre  modeme;  mais  nos  esperances  ont  ^te  trompees.^" 

Balzac  felt  that  there  was  work  for  him  to  do  in  this  field.  With  Sand, 
Musset,  Dumas,  Hugo  and  others  busily  engaged  in  writing  plays, 
the  stage,  as  Paul  Flat  so  justly  remarks,  became  for  him  "une 
necessity  litteraire.''^!  As  we  shall  see,  at  the  beginning  of  his 
literary  career,  dramatic  projects  occupied  a  vast  amount  of  space. 
^  At  the  very  height  of  his  novelistic  success,  stirred  by  the  ambition 
to  emulate  his  contemporaries,  he  returned  to  the  stage,  and  busied 
himself  with  scenic  plans  until  the  end  of  his  life. 

However,  the  fruitless  search  for  financial  success  and  for  reputa- 
tion in  a  wider  field,  already  conquered  by  other  men  of  genius,  were 
not  the  only  reasons  for  Balzac's  dramatic  activity.  There  is  also 
apparent  an  unselfish  aspiration  to  broaden  his  genius,  an  effort 
which  can  be  explained  by  the  nature  of  the  man  himself.  The 
dramatic  form  was  well-suited  and  well-nigh  a  necessity  to  such  a 
mind  as  his,  devoured  by  a  passion  for  life.  Leon  Gozlan  relates  a 
conversation  between  Balzac  and  the  notorious  police-agent,  Vidocq, 
during  which  the  latter  held  that  reality  was  more  dramatic  than 
fiction.     Balzac  is  quoted  as  replying: 

Ah!  vous  croyez  a  la  reality,  mon  cher  Vidocq.  Vous  me  charmez.  Je  ne  vous 
aurez  pas  suppose  si  naif.  La  r^alit^!  parlez-m'en.  Vous  revenez  de  ce  beau  pays. 
Allons  done!    C'est  nous  qui  la  faisons,  la  reality !^ 

Balzac  was  this  "maker  of  reality,"  whose  powerful  imagination 
would  not  let  him  rest  from  his  probing  and  dissection  and  repro- 
duction of  society.  The  Human  Comedy  was  to  be  a  faithful 
representation  of  this  labor: 

J'ai  entrepris  I'histoire  de  toute  la  sdci^te.  J'ai  exprim^  souvent  mon  plan  dans 
cette  seule  phrase :  "Une  generation  est  un  drame  k  quatre  ou  cinq  mille  personnages 
saillants."     Ce  drame,  c'est  mon  livre.^' 

In  the  Human  Comedy  we  discover  the  presence  of  more  than  one 
precious  dramatic  gift.     Gautier  has  noted  perhaps  the  capital  one: 

2°  Histoire  de  Vart  dramatique,  Vol.  I,  p.  84. 

2^  Seconds  Essais  sur  Balzac,  p,  106. 

^  Balzac  chez  lui:  Souvenirs  des  Jardies,  1862,  p.  214. 

23  (Emres,  Vol.  XXII,  p.  547. 


6  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

Une  qualit6  de  Balzac  semblait  le  pr6destiner  au  th^itre,  c'est  la  puissance  de 
peindre  les  caract^res." 

His  characters  were  real  personages  to  him.  It  was  his  great  boast 
that  they  should  rival  life  itself.  They  spoke  to  him;  he  could  see 
their  rags  and  their  furs;  their  gestures,  their  tricks  of  speech,  their 
passions  haunted  his  dreams.  Werdet,  in  his  book  of  personal 
reminiscences,*^  cites  many  instances  of  his  friend's  confusion  of 
reality  and  fiction. 

But  it  is  not  alone  in  his  force  of  characterization  that  Balzac  has 
displayed  a  dramatic  turn  of  mind.  He  possessed  also  a  sense  for 
situation  and  for  dialogue.  Hostile  glances  exchanged  by  two  jealous 
women  over  a  tea-table  furnished  the  germ  of  his  drama,  la  Mardtre.^ 
He  knew  how  to  seize  upon  a  dramatic  moment  and  to  reproduce  it  in 
the  manner  of  a  veritable  coup  de  thidtre.  At  times,  the  novelistic 
framework  seems  to  drop  completely,  and  stage-scenes,  which 
might  be  transported  to  the  theatre  and  the  actors  without  the 
change  of  a  word,  stand  forth  in  bold  relief.  Such  is  the  scene  in 
la  Rabouilleuse  of  Philippe  Bridau's  drunken  delirium  at  the  bedside 
of  his  dying  aunt.  Such  again  is  the  scene  in  which  the  ghastly  old 
Colonel  Chabert  arrives  at  Derville's  oflSce  after  midnight: 
Monsieur,  lui  dit  Derville,  k  qui  ai-je  I'honneur  de  parler? 

— Au  Colonel  Chabert. 

— Lequel? 

— Celui  qui  est  mort  k  Eylau. 

Balzac's  genius  was  of  that  peculiar  type  which  was  bound  to  lead  him 
to  the  theatre.  He  possessed  the  dramatic  sense  for  characterization, 
for  situation  and  for  dialogue.  He  knew,  to  borrow  a  definition  of 
Houssaye's,"  "Part  de  faire  sortir,de  situations  qu'on  voit  tous  les 
jours  dans  la  vie  reelle,  des  scenes  du  plus  grand  effet  dramatique, 
sans  employer  d'autres  ressources  que  les  sentiments  et  les  passions." 
Such  a  temperament  was  bound  to  approach  the  stage,  where  living 
actors  might  translate  into  action  the  creatures  of  his  lively  imagina- 
tion, and  where  a  public  might  come  into  contact  with  his  world. 


When  we  seek  to  discover  what  direct  contact  Balzac  during  his 
early  life  had  with  the  stage,  we  are  surprised  to  find  almost  a  void. 

»•  Histoire  de  Vart  dramatique,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  102. 

"  Portrait  intime  de  Balzac.    Sa  vie,  son  humeur  et  son  caractere,  1859. 

*  See  pp.  108-9. 

"  Les  Hommes  et  les  idies,  1886,  p.  203. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  7 

He  seems  neither  to  have  been  a  theatre-goer^^  nor  to  have  read 
many  plays.  This  may  be  easily  explained  by  the  fact  that  he  had 
neither  the  time  nor  the  money  for  such  luxuries.  His  first  real 
association  with  the  stage  dated  from  the  days  of  the  Lesdiguieres 
garret  and  the  drama  in  verse  which  he  called  Cromwell.  His  interest 
at  this  time  seems  divided  between  the  classical  drama,  which  he  did 
not  know  well,  and  the  historical  play,  so  much  in  vogue  at  the 
moment.  To  his  sister  he  writes  in  1819  about  Lebrun^s  tragedy, 
Marie  Stuart^  which  was  then  being  given  at  the  Theatre  Fran^ais.^" 
He  declares  that  subjects  taken  from  antiquity  are  the  most  favor- 
able for  tragedy,  and  that  it  is  difficult  to  render  a  modern  subject  in- 
teresting. Our  statesmen,  he  says,  are  all  monotonous,  and  crimes 
of  diplomacy  are  undramatic.  He  seems  to  have  been  thoroughly 
sincere  in  his  classical  leanings  at  this  time.  Corneille  he  calls  "mon 
vieux  general,"  and  his  greatest  desire  is  to  emulate  Racine.'"  After 
the  production  of  his  first  plays  we  find  him  declaring  in  the  face  of 
Hugo  that  Racine  is  perfection;  that  Berenice  will  never  be  surpassed, 
and  that  Phkdre  is  the  greatest  r61e  in  modern  times.'^  The  first 
of  the  great  classic  plays  that  Balzac  seems  to  have  seen  was  Cinna. 
"Je  n'ai  pas  encore  vu  jouer  les  pieces  de  Corneille,  notre  general," 
he  writes  to  Mme  Surville  on  the  eve  of  witnessing  a  performance 
of  that  play.32  Later,  we  shall  see  that  the  impression  left  by  this 
masterpiece  was  to  make  itself  felt  in  Balzac's  first  drama.  He 
professes  total  ignorance  about  the  staging  of  plays  and  of  the  manner 
in  which  verses  are  recited.  Still,  he  had  read  both  Corneille  and 
Racine,  declared  that  Racine's  verse  seems  superior  to  that  of 
Corneille,  and  in  1825  he  prefaced  the  edition  of  Moliere  which  his. 
own  printing-house  prepared  with  a  notice  on  the  great  comedian.'* 
Later  on  in  his  life  Balzac  was  more  intimately  associated  with  plays 
and  the  players.  He  knew  the  elder  Dumas  and  Victor  Hugo,  and 
counted  Theophile  Gautier  among  his  warmest  friends.  He  was 
associated   also   with   the   leading   actors   of   the   day:     Frederick 

28  "II  allait  peu  dans  les  tMatres;  on  ne  Ta  peut-6tre  pas  vu  trois  fois  dans  sa  vie 
au  foyer  de  la  Com^die-frangaise." — Gozlan,  Balzac  en  pantoufles,  1865,  p.  17. 
29Corr.,p.  11. 
8°  Ibid.,  p.  18. 

31  LEL,  Vol.  II,  p.  94.    December  21,  1842. 

32  Corr.,  p.  12. 

^  (Euvres  completes  de  Moliere.     Paris,  Delongchamps,  Urbain  Canel,  Baudouin 
freres,  1826.    The  notice  is  published  in  (Euvres,  Vol.  XXII,  pp.  1-8. 


8  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

Lemaitre,  Marie  Dorval,  Henry  Monnier  and  others.  In  1830, 
when  he  published  with  Emile  de  Girardin  le  Feuilleton  des  journaux 
poUtiques,  he  devoted  considerable  space  to  active  dramatic  criticism. 

Balzac  had  certain  definite  ideas  about  the  romantic  drama,  and 
attacked  it  bitterly  in  la  Caricature  and  le  Feuilleton  des  journaux 
politiques.  In  general  this  criticism  is  vigorous  and  just.  Hernani 
is  made  the  subject  of  two  detailed  articles  in  le  Feuilleton,  dated 
March  24  and  April  7,  1830.^'*  Balzac  attacks  boldly  the  salient 
romantic  faults  exemplified  in  this  play:  the  improbabilities  of  the 
action,  the  misappropriation  of  history,  the  lack  of  invention,  the 
unreal  characters.  "Un  drame  est  I'expression  d'une  passion 
humaine,  d'une  individualite  ou  d'un  fait  immense."  Hernani,  he 
concludes,  belongs  in  none  of  these  categories.  The  characters  are 
not  created  according  to  "bon  sens,"  Don  Ruy  is  stupid,  and  Don 
Carlos  might  easily  have  been  either  Louis  XVI  or  Louis  XV.  The 
subject  is  neither  true  to  life  nor  reasonable,  and  suggests  rather 
the  matter  of  a  ballad.  Thus  the  play  is  undramatic,  resembling 
the  early  work  of  Lope  de  Vega  or  of  Calderon. 

After  Marie-Tudor,  in  1833,  Balzac  utters  a  storm  of  angry 
protest  against  Hugo's  manner.^^  But  he  gives  vent  to  his  most 
biting  sarcasm  regarding  Ruy  Bias,  which  he  terms  "une  enorme 
betise,  une  infamie  en  vers."^^     After  Lucrece  Borgia,  he  writes: 

J'ai  vu  Lucrece.  .  .  .C'est  un  pastiche  de  Chenier,  comme  trente  poetes  de 
second  ordre  actuels  eussent  pu  le  mieux  faire.  Et,  quand  a  la  piece,  il  n'y  a  rien  de 
plus  enfant,  de  plus  nul,  de  plus  tragedie  de  college !  .  .  .  Hugo  a  bien  merite  par  ses 
sottises  que  Dieu  lui  envoyat  un  Ponsard  pour  rival!  Ah!  si  vous  saviez  comme  Lucrece 
est  chose  ermuyeuse!  En  France  il  n'y  a  de  grand  que  ce  qui  est  nU.  Rousseau, 
Voltaire,  Montesquieu,  La  Fontaine,  Racine  et  Moliere  meme,  tous  ont  ete  nies, 
discut6s,  combattus.^' 

Later,  the  public  acclaims  les  Burgraves  as  the  highest  expression 
of  lyricism.  Lyricism,  says  Balzac,  is  not  dramatic.^^  He  ridicules 
in  this  play  the  unreal  stage  appurtenances,  the  poor  invention  and 
Hugo's  abuse  of  history: 

J'6tais  a  la  premiere  representation  des  Burgraves.  II  y  a  de  magnifique  poesie, 
mais  Victor  Hugo  est  decidement  reste  Venfant  sublime,  et  ne  sera  que  cela.  C'est 
tou jours  les  memes  enf  antillages  de  prison,  de  cercueil,  d'invraisemblances  de  la  derniere 

34  (Euvres,  Vol.  XXII,  pp.  44-56. 

36  LEL,  Vol.  I,  pp.  81  and  85. 
^lUd.,  p.  503.     November  15,  1838. 

37  IhU.,  Vol.  II,  p.  158.     May  11,  1843. 

38  IhU.,  p.  94.    December  21,  1842. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  9 

absurdite.  Comme  histoire,  il  n'en  faut  pas  parler;  comme  invention,  c'est  de  la 
derniere  pauvrete.  Mais  la  poesie  enleve.  C'est  Titien  peignant  sur  un  mur  de 
boue.  II  y  a  surtout  une  absence  de  coeur,  qui  se  fait  de  plus  en  plus  sentir.  Victor 
Hugo  n'est  pas  vraiP 

Of  the  other  contemporary  dramatists  Balzac  has  little  to  say. 
After  witnessing  the  first  performance  of  la  Camaraderie  ou  la  Courte- 
Echelle,  he  decides  that  Scribe  knows  his  ''metier,"  but  that  he  is 
ignorant  of  art.  He  recognizes  his  talent  and  his  tact,  but  he  deplores 
his  lack  of  seriousness  and  depth,  and  consequently  his  feeble  style.*" 
Eugene  Sue  fares  scarcely  better,  for  Latreaumont  he  calls  a  "slack" 
play,  and  its  author  "un  esprit  borne  et  bourgeois,"  incapable  of 
treating  the  gigantic  aspects  of  Louis  XIV's  age."**  This  judgment 
is  excessive,  inspired  no  doubt  by  Sue's  blasphemous  treatment,  to 
Balzac's  mind,  of  the  greatest  epoch  in  French  history. 
For  the  vaudeville  Balzac  expresses  the  utmost  scorn: 
II  vaut  mieux  une  belle  page  non  payee  que  cent  mille  francs  d'un  mauvais 
vaudeville.** 

Casting  aside  his  projected  play  called  la  Gina^  he  says: 

J'ai  trouv6  mon  personnage  inadmissible.  Un  auteur  de  vaudeville  n'eiit  pas  et6 
arrets  par  cette  difficulte.'*^ 

Perhaps  the  bitterest  attack  on  this  popular  form  of  amusement  is 
made  in  the  following  lines,  after  he  had  witnessed  one  of  the  numer- 
ous vaudevilles  made  up  of  Napoleonic  episodes,  so  popular  about 
1830: 

J'ai  6t6  voir  Virginie  D6jazet  representant  Napoleon.  Excellent  plaisanterie ! 
Pendant  que  M.  Victor  Hugo  fait  des  odes  a  la  Colonne,  il  y  a  d'autres  hommes  qui  la 
depecent,  la  taillent,  se  la  partagent  et  la  mettent  en  pieces  de  six  liards,  afin  de  donner 
a  tout  le  monde  un  grand  homme  en  petite  monnaie.  Napoleon  en  vaudeville,  pros- 
titu^  par  des  com^diens  de  TAmbigu-Comique,  des  Varietes,  ou  M.  Cazot  s'est  charge 
de  nous  en  offrir  les  traits,  du  Vaudeville,  du  Cirque-Olympique,  etc.,  est  tout  k  fait 
digne  de  Napol6on  en  sucre  d'orge,  en  liqueur,  en  savon.^ 

One  very  interesting  bit  of  criticism  from  Balzac's  pen  concerns 
the  work  of  Edouard  Ourliac,  and  his  short  story  entitled  Collinet}^ 

39  LEL,  Vol.  II,  p.  125.     March  19,  1843. 
*»  Corr.,  p.  303.     June  18,  1838. 

*'  Ibid.,  pp.  280,  281.      January  20,  1838.      Balzac's  opinion  of  Sue  personally  is 
energetically  expressed  in  a  letter  to  Mme  Hanska,  LEt.,  Vol.  I,  p.  321.     April  25,1836. 
«  LEL,  Vol.  I,  p.  197.     October  18,  1834. 
^UUd.,  p.  489.     September  18,  1838. 

^  Lettres  sur  Paris.     October  18,  1830.     (Euvres,  Vol.  XXIII,  p.  113. 
«  La  Revue  parisienne,  August  25,  1840.     (Euvres,  Vol.  XXIII,  pp.  745-48. 


10  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

Ourliac,  it  will  be  remembered,  was,  along  with  Gautier,  Laurent- 
Jan  and  others,  to  have  been  one  of  the  collaborators  in  Vautrin. 
What  Balzac  admires  especially  in  the  young  man's  work  is  his 
handling  of  dialogue,  his  unexpected  and  sudden  flashes  of  meridional 
wit — very  precious  dramatic  traits — his  clearness  of  vision  and 
vivacity,  so  needful  for  the  stage. 

Collinet  contient  une  puissante  et  belle  comedie,  nous  en  verrons  peut-fetre  tirer 
quelque  miserable  vaudeville;  tandis  que,  si  les  destin6es  du  Th6atre-Frangais  6taient 
entre  les  mains  dignes  de  les  dinger,  M.  Ourliac  serait  d6ji  prie  peut-6tre  de  travailler. 

Ourliac,  he  declares,  is  a  first-rate  dramatist  with  talent,  and  would 
furnish  the  Theatre-Fran fais  with  excellent  work,  at  a  moment  when 
they  are  accepting  poor  compositions  from  incompetent  authors. 
Balzac  has  repeatedly  voiced  this  note  of  regret  in  criticizing  the 
stage.  Playwrights,  to  satisfy  the  hollow  tastes  and  insistent  de- 
mands of  the  day,  have  exhausted  their  ideas.  In  his  Lettre  aux 
ecrivains  franqais^  he  describes  with  some  bitterness  the  state  of  the 
theatre  in  his  day.  A  typical  audience,  uncultivated  and  uneducated, 
goes  to  see  a  play  merely  to  be  soothed  to  sleep  after  a  heavy  dinner! 
To  satisfy  these  tastes,  Paris,  with  its  twelve  theatres,  offering  to 
dramatic  literature  a  budget  of  ten  millions  or  more,  is  choked  with 
thin,  imitative  plays,  without  creation  or  ideas,  which  will  last 
perhaps  for  six  weeks.  The  theatrical  public  demands  a  new  play 
for  every  day  in  the  year,  and  the  authors,  to  fulfill  this  craving, 
themselves  void  of  originality,  go  to  novels,  "prenant  leur  bien  ou  ils 
le  trouvent."     In  his  Lettres  sur  Paris ,  Balzac  writes: 

Quand  au  th6itre,  il  est  dans  un  6tat  de  marasme  incroyable;  mais  il  faut  attribuer 
ce  calme  desesperant  k  des  causes  secretes  qu'il  ne  serait  pas  encore  convenable  de  vous 
d6voiler.  Au  Th^&tre-Frangais,  M.  Alexandre  Dumas  s'oppose  ^  la  repr6sentation 
A' Antony.  M.  Casimir  Delavigne  retient  Louis  XI  en  portefeuille,  M.  Victor  Hugo 
sa  Marion  Delorme,  MM.  Empis  et  Mazeres  leur  Changement  de  Minister e.^'^ 

And  again  he  declares: 

Quand  aux  th6§,tres,  k  la  litt^rature,  k  la  po6sie,  tout  cela  est  mort.  La  trag6die, 
le  talent  et  les  grandes  pensees  ont  trop  couru  par  les  rues  pour  qu'ils  soient  aux 
spectacles,  ou  dans  les  livres.    La  comedie  commence  i  lever  la  t6te>* 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  sound  insight  and  truth  in  this  criticism,  and 
it  displays  more  than  a  passing  interest  in  the  stage.     In  Paris  en 

*  Appeared  first,  dated  Paris,  November  1, 1834,  in  la  Revue  de  Paris  of  November, 
1834.    Published  in  CEuvres,  Vol.  XXII,  pp.  221  sf. 

<M.  M.  F***,  d  Besanqon,  January  29,  1831.    CEuvres,  Vol.  XXIII,  p.  180. 
**A.M.  F***,  d  Tours,  September  26,  1830.    Ibid.,  p.  103. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  11 

1831*^  among  the  other  brief  and  biting  criticisms  of  the  city,  Balzac 
writes  that  it  is  a  place  "oii  Ton  dit  le  plus  mal  des  comediens."  In 
1826,  he  printed  at  his  own  establishment  a  little  32mo.  volume 
entitled  Petit  Dictionnaire  critique  et  anecdotique  des  enseignes  de 
Faris^^  which  contains  the  following  amusing  sketches  of  Parisian 
theatres: 

AMBIGU-COMIQUE  (Theatre  de  1').— S'il  y  a  quelque  chose  de  comique  dans 
ce  theatre,  ce  n'est  certainement  pas  le  genre  qu'on  y  exploite,  car  il  faut  une  fiere  dose 
d'hilarite  pour  rire  a  Calas,  a  VAuherge  des  Adrets.  Le  niais  n'offre  lui-meme  rien  de 
comique,  mais,  en  revanche,  le  nombreux  public  qu'amenent  les  trophees  des  heros 
de  melodrame  pourrait  bien,  a  quelques  egards,  exciter  le  sourire,  le  jour  de  chambree 
complete. 

Of  the  Gaiete  he  says: 

.  .  .  Cette  arene,  ou  les  passions  romanesques  sont  remuees  a  la  pelle. 

Of  the  Gymnase-Dramatique: 

Boulevard  Bonne-Nouvelle,  entre  un  limonadier  et  un  p^tissier.  Dix  toises  de 
facade;  monument  aussi  immortel  que  M.  Scribe. 

Finally,  he  describes  the  Porte-Saint-Martin  as  follows: 

Salle  immense,  belles  decorations,  facade  plus  large  qu'artistement  dessinee. 
Mazurier,  M.  Cooke,  Jocko,  le  Monstre,  c'est  autant  de  raret6s  dignes  de  parcourir  les 
foires. 


What  conclusion  may  be  drawn  from  Balzac's  dramatic  criticism? 
There  seem  to  be  at  least  two.  First,  he  displays  a  practical  knowl- 
edge of  the  faults  of  the  contemporary  stage,  and  of  its  needs.  After 
the  Revolution  of  1830,  he  sees  in  dramatic  literature  that  grievous 
lack  of  restraint  which  is  its  fundamental  characteristic,  the  unbridled 
striving  to  do  away  with  traditions,  without  substituting  anything 
in  their  place.  He  condemns  the  romantic  disrespect  for  manners 
and  historical  verity,  the  lack  of  invention  and  reality,  the  careless 
psychology,  the  immense  vogue  of  cheap  vaudeville  and  melodrama, 
and  the  play  hastily  constructed  to  thrill  the  grosser  public.  He 
condemns  the  mediocrity  of  the  present-day  stage,  and  the  host  of 
second-rate  authors:  "Au  diable  la  mediocrite,"  he  cries,  "au  diable 
les  Pradon  et  les  Bauvarlet!  il  faut  etre  Gretry  et  Racine."^^ 

«  Dated  March  10,  1831.     (Euvres,  Vol.  XXI,  p.  243. 
^Ubid.,p.  116  sf. 
"  Corr.,  p.  18,  1820. 


12  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONOR^  DE  BALZAC 

En  litt6rature,  les  m6diocrit6s  pers6v6rantes  font  fortune,  elles  y  gagnent  I'in- 
cognito  et  dix  mille  livres  de  rente.  Cela  vaut  bien  une  place.  II  y  a  deux  cents 
auteurs  dramatiques  sur  six  cents  dans  ce  cas-la  h.  Paris.  C'est  le  dilemme  que  j'aurais 
pos6  si  Ton  m'avait  consult^.  J'aurais  dit:  **0u  Armand  a  du  g6nie  ou  il  n'a  que  de 
TentStement;  s'il  a  du  g^nie,  il  sera  malheureux,  sans  le  sou  et  glorieux  comme  tous 
ceux  qui  ont  du  g6nie;  s'il  a  de  I'entfitement,  il  sera  M.  Clairville,  M.  Anicet,  M.  de 
Comberousse,  qui  gagnent,  en  travaillant,  en  piochant  la  terre  dramatique,  quinze  ou 
vingt  mille  francs  par  an."^^ 

His  solemn  advice  to  Hugo,  at  the  close  of  his  review  of  Hernani^  is, 
in  a  measure,  his  advice  to  all  the  dramatists  of  his  day:  "A  moins  de 
travaux  consciencieux,  d'une  grande  docilite  aux  conseils  d'amis 
sev^res,  la  sc^ne  lui  est  interdite." 

Balzac  has  seen  the  worst  faults  in  the  contemporary  drama,  and 
has  expressed  them  with  a  great  deal  of  vigor.  However,  we  cannot 
say  that  he  has  been  altogether  fair.  A  certain  personal  animosity 
entered  into  his  criticism  of  Sue.  The  note  of  carelessness,  almost  of 
frivolity,  runs  through  his  criticism  of  Hugo.  He  has  failed  com- 
pletely to  do  justice  to  the  poetic  qualities  of  les  Burgraves  and  Ruy 
Bias;  he  has  appreciated  none  of  the  lyric  splendor  of  the  love-duets 
in  Eernani  or  of  Triboulet^s  monologue.  Ruy  Bias  he  calls  "une 
enorme  b^tise,  une  infamie  en  vers,"  before  having  seen  it  acted. 
There  is  something  of  Balzac's  impetuosity  here,  something  of  the 
triviality  also  which  was  inherent  in  the  nature  of  the  man.  Later, 
when  we  come  to  study  his  own  plays,  we  shall  see  how  absolutely 
he  has  neglected  the  warnings  given  to  this  leader  of  a  new  school, 
and  how  easily  he  succumbed  to  the  worst  of  the  romantic  faults. 
After  the  unhappy  failure  of  Vautritij  it  must  be  remembered  that 
Hugo  proved  to  be  a  warm  friend  of  Balzac's,  and  it  is  no  doubt  the 
recollection  of  this  kindness  that  prompted  the  latter  to  write  in  his 
Revue  parisienne  of  July  25,  1840,  the  following  lines: 

Aussi  regrett6-je  qu'^  I'exemple  de  Goethe,  il  n'ait  pas  fait  une  trag^die  du  genre 
classique  od  il  se  serait  astreint  au  systeme  severe  de  versification  et  de  pens6e  qui 
recommande  Britianicus  ou  Cinna.  II  aurait  ainsi  ferm6  la  bouche  a  quelques  critiques.'^ 

We  have  seen  in  the  foregoing  pages  what  criticism  Balzac  makes 
of  the  stage.  What  does  he  himself  propose  to  do,  and  what  dramatic 
principles  does  he  intend  to  hold?  Unfortunately,  he  proposes 
nothing  particularly  clear  or  tangible.  He  has  nowhere  set  forth 
his  theory  of  dramatic  art,  rather  he  has  been  satisfied  to  express  a 

« Ibid.,  pp.  596-7.     February  9,  1849. 
"  (Euvrts,  Vol.  XXIII,  p.  603. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  13 

vague  desire  to  depict  the  "vrai."  This  explains,  partially,  at  least, 
the  mediocrity  of  his  own  work.  Without  a  clear  idea  of  what  he 
intended  to  do,  he  set  forth  to  imitate  and  to  reproduce  what  had 
already  been  done,  in  spite  of  his  pretensions  to  create  something 
new. 

In  1838,  during  the  composition  of  V£cole  des  minages,  he  declares 
to  Mme  Hanska  that  his  theatrical  ideas  are  vast,  and  that  he  intends 
to  work  for  the  stage  with  patience  and  constancy.  Notwithstand- 
ing such  statements  as  these,  Balzac  failed  to  take  his  drama  seriously, 
and  this  is  his  fundamental  error.  He  considered  the  actual  labor 
involved  in  making  a  play  much  less  than  that  required  for  a  novel. 
A  play  would  not  necessitate  hours  in  a  library  nor  the  assiduity 
demanded  by  fiction.  We  know  something  of  his  method  of  com- 
position in  general :  the  construction  of  a  huge  and  sometimes  cumber- 
some skeleton,  to  which  were  added  at  different  times  more  and  still 
more  materials.  There  was  no  curtailing,  no  polishing;  rather  there 
were  additions  of  various  sorts,  with  little  heed  to  proportion.  Some- 
times this  huge  mass  of  work  was  discarded,  or  gone  over  with  a 
sweeping  hand,  remodeled  entirely,  or,  with  nothing  but  the  bare 
framework  standin'g,  encrusted  with  detail.  Gautier  tells  us  that 
this  mania  for  elaboration  became  lightning-like  when  he  attacked 
the  drama.^  We  have  seen  how  important  a  place  finance  held  in 
his  dramatic  efforts.  Until  Mercadety  indeed,  this  preoccupation 
was  almost  an  obsession.  After  the  failures  of  his  first  plays,  written 
hurriedly  to  save  their  author  from  bankruptcy,  we  find  Balzac,  no 
doubt  on  sound  advice  from  friends,  adopting  a  much  saner  and  less 
feverish  attitude  towards  the  stage.     In  1837,  he  writes: 

Une  piece  est  I'oeuvre  la  plus  facile  et  la  plus  diflScile  deresprithumain:  ou  c'est  un 
jouet  d'Allemagne,  ou  c'est  une  statue  immortelle,  un  polichinelle  ou  la  V^nus,  le 
Misanthrope  et  Figaro,  ou  la  Camaraderie  et  la  Tour  de  Nesles.^ 

But  the  fact  remains,  Balzac  never  taught  himself  the  lessons  which 
he  preached  to  others,  nor  did  he  correct  the  serious  faults  committed 
by  the  dramatists  he  imitated. 

So  much  we  know  about  Balzac's  methods  of  composition.  His 
aesthetic  theories  about  playwriting  remain  vague  and  formless. 
He  seems,  like  Dumas  the  elder,  to  have  had  the  intention  to  write 
plays  of  diverse  nature.     Unlike  Hugo,  he  had  no  definite  dramatic 

^Portraits  contemporains,  pp.  82  and  119. 
«  LEt.,  Vol.  I,  p.  405. 


14  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

system,  no  defined  purpose.  Every  dramatist,  he  declares,  should 
introduce  the  corrections  of  faults  into  his  play,  and  should  put  well 
in  the  foreground  the  salutary  opposition  of  good  and  evil.  This  was 
his  purpose  also  in  the  Human  Comedy.  About  his  plays  he  talks 
little.  Vautrin,  in  the  mind  of  the  author,  represented  the  dramatic 
contrast  between  a  brigand  and  the  law.  His  historical  comedy, 
Quinola,  was  to  depict  the  struggles  of  genius  with  poverty,  distrust, 
ignorance  and  fate.  UEcole  des  menages  and  la  Mardtre  were  to 
present  the  terrible  ravages  of  passion  in  the  home,  and  to  preach  a 
moral  lesson  to  the  bourgeois.  Mercadet,  "le  combat  d'un  homme 
contre  ses  creanciers,"^^  was  to  be  a  pure  comedy.  This  is  all.  He 
approached  the  stage  as  he  did  the  novel,  fully  aware  of  the  obstacles 
across  his  path,  and  with  a  determination  to  succeed. 

Let  us  now  consider  the  manner  in  which  Balzac  has  conceived 
his  plays,  turning  first  to  the  mass  of  theatrical  projects  which 
occupied  a  great  portion  of  his  time,  and  which  were  never  com- 
pleted, then  to  the  finished  productions  from  the  dramatist's  pen, 
plays  which  will  be  studied  in  detail. 

»  LEL,  Vol.  I,  p.  536.    May  10,  1840. 


II 

UNFRUITFUL  ATTEMPTS  AT  THE  DRAMA 

When  Balzac  became  settled  in  his  attic  room  at  9,  Rue  de  Les- 
diguieres,  to  begin  his  literary  career,  he  was  twenty  years  old.  It 
was  the  month  of  March,  1819.  He  was  barely  installed  in  those 
humble  quarters  when  he  began  to  write,  conceiving  the  plans  for 
various  types  of  productions.  Madame  Laure  de  Surville  relates  in 
her  interesting  biography  of  her  brother  something  of  this  labor: 

Que  de  travaux  il  m6dite!  des  romans,  des  comedies,  des  op6ras-comiques,  des 
tragedies  sont  sur  sa  liste  d'ouvrages  a  faire,  II  ressemble  k  I'enfant  qui  a  tant  de 
paroles  a  dire,  qu'il  ne  sait  par  oh  commencer.  C'est  d'abord  Stella  et  Coqsigrtte, 
deux  livres  qui  ne  virent  jamais  le  jour!  De  tous  ses  pro  jets  de  comedie  de  ce  temps, 
je  me  souviens  des  Deux  Philosophes,  qu'il  eht  certainement  repris  k  ses  loisirs.  Ces 
pr6tendus  philosophes  se  moquaient  I'un  de  I'autre,  se  querellaient  sans  cesse,  comme 
des  amis  (disait  mon  frere  en  racontant  cette  pidce). 

Ces  philosophes,  tout  en  meprisant  les  hochets  de  ce  monde,  se  les  disputaient 
sans  pouvoir  les  obtenir,  insucces  final  qui  les  raccomodait  et  leur  faisait  maudire  en 
commun  la  detestable  engeance  humaine  !* 

These  early  productions  were  soon  abandoned.  It  is  interesting, 
however,  that  the  first  word  he  writes  to  his  family  at  the  beginning 
of  his  literary  career  is  about  theatrical  projects.  To  his  sister,  in  a 
letter  dated  September  6,  1819,  he  says: 

J'ai  decid6ment  abandonn6  mon  op^ra-comique.  Je  ne  puis  trouver  un  compo- 
siteur dans  mon  trou;  je  ne  dois  pas,  d'ailleurs,  ^crire  pour  le  gout  actuel,  mais  faire 
comme  ont  fait  les  Racine  et  les  Corneille,  travailler  comme  eux  pour  la  posterity  P 

His  first  thought  about  the  drama,  and  indeed  about  literature,  was 
to  write  for  posterity.  The  comedy  abandoned,  he  draws  up  the 
plans  for  a  much  more  ambitious  work,  this  time  a  tragedy  in  five 
acts  and  in  verse,  having  for  its  subject  the  condemnation  and  death 
of  Charles  I  of  England.^  He  hesitated  as  to  whether  he  should 
entitle  his  composition  Cromwell j  Henriette  d^ Angleterre  or  le  Regicide. 
He  entered  heart  and  soul  into  his  work,  talking  frankly  about  his 
efforts  to  depict  the  hearts  of  his  characters,  and  to  analyze  their 

^(Euvres,  Vol.  XXIV,  pp.  xx-xxi. 

2  Corr.,  p.  5. 

'  The  complete  text  of  Cromwell  is  to  be  found  in  the  Chantilly  collection  of  Bal- 
zac drama,  with  notes  and  modifications  made  by  Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul  in  view  of  a 
possible  production. 


16  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

sentiments.*  "De  toutes  les  affections  de  T^me,  la  douleur  est  la 
plus  difl&cile  a  peindre,"  he  writes.^  He  found  difficulties  at  the  out- 
set with  his  verse.^  A  monologue  after  the  manner  of  Chapelain,  at 
first  sight  good,  turned  out  to  be  abominable  verse/  and  it  was  in 
vain  that  he  read  for  inspiration  the  tragedies  of  Crebillon,  Voltaire, 
Corneille  and  Racine.  Repeatedly  he  asks  his  sister  for  advice, 
calling  for  color  and  a  certain  romantic  flavor  which  he  lacks  and 
terms,  "la  fibre  ossianesque."^  Finally,  by  the  end  of  June,  1820, 
he  leaves  Paris  and  goes  to  the  family  home  at  Villeparisis  to  read 
his  play.  According  to  Champfleury,^  the  academician,  Andrieux, 
professor  of  literature  at  the  College  de  France  and  a  staunch  up- 
holder of  the  classical  tradition,  was  called  in  to  judge  the  play. 
Champfleury  recounts  the  verdict  which  the  older  man,  himself  a 
playwright,  passed:  "Que  le  jeune  homme  fasse  quoi  que  ce  soit, 
excepte  de  la  litterature." 

The  plan  of  the  play  is  recounted  by  Balzac  in  the  following  lines: 

Acte  premier. 

Henriette  d'Angleterre,  accabl6e  de  fatigue  et  d6guis6e  sous  d'humbles  v^tements, 
entre  dans  Westminster,  soutenue  par  le  fils  de  Strafford;  elle  revient  d'un  long  voyage. 
Elle  a  €t€,  selon  I'ordre  de  Charles  !•',  conduire  ses  enfants  en  Hollande  et  soUicitcr 
des  secours  k  la  cour  de  France.  Strafford  en  larmes  lui  apprend  les  derniers  6v6ne- 
ments.  Le  roi,  prisonnier  dans  Westminster,  accus6  par  le  Parlement,  attend  son 
jugement.  Tu  comprends  l'61an  de  la  reine  k  ces  nouvelles;  elle  veut  partager  le  sort 
de  son  6poux. 

Entrent  Cromwell  et  son  gendre  Ireton.  Us  ont  donn6  rendez-vous  dans  ce  lieu 
aux  conjures. 

La  reine,  effray6e,  se  cache  derriSre  une  tombe  royale. 

Les  conspirateurs  arrivent  et  elle  entend  discuter  si  on  fera  ou  non  mourir  le  roi. 
Schne  fort  vive  oil  Fairfax  (un  honnfete  gargon)  defend  les  jours  de  I'illustre  prisonnier 
et  d^voile  I'ambition  de  Cromwell.  Celui-ci  rassure  tout  son  monde.  Apres  quoi, 
on  conclut  k  la  peine  de  mort. 

La  reine  se  montre  et  leur  fait  un  fameux  discours!  ... 

Cromwell  et  ses  amis  la  laissent  parler,  enchant6s  de  tenir  une  victime  qui  leur 
manquait.  II  sort  avec  ses  complices  pour  assurer  le  succ^s  de  leurs  projets,  et  la 
reine  se  rend  auprSs  du  prisonnier. 

*  Corr.,  p.  5. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  IS.    1820. 
^  Ibid.,  p.  16. 

^  Ibid.,  p.  20.  September,  1819.  This  letter  has  been  dated  incorrectly  in  the 
definitive  edition,  Calmann-L6vy,  1876. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  7.    September  6,  1819. 

*  Grandes  Figures  d'hier  et  d'aujourd'hui.  1861.  See  also  the  unsigned  article 
Honori  de  Balzac  in  la  Revue  franqaise,  June  10,  1856. 


'  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONOR^  DE  BALZAC  17 

Acte  deuxieme 

Charles  !•',  seul,  repasse  dans  sa  m6moire  les  6v6nemeiits  et  les  faits  de  son 
r^gne.    Quel  monologue! 

La  reine  arrive.  C'est  encore  \k  qu'il  faudra  du  talent!  L'amour  conjugal  sur 
la  sc^ne  pour  tout  potage!  il  faut  qu'il  embrase  la  pi^ce.  H  doit  r^gner  dans  cette 
entrevue  douloureuse  un  ton  si  m61ancolique  et  si  tendre,  que  c'est  d6j4  k  d6sesp6rer; 
il  faut  tout  bonnement  arriver  au  sublime. 

Cromwell  vient  chercher  le  roi  pour  la  s6ance.  Sc^ne  fort  6pineuse  encore,  oil  il 
faut  mettre  en  relief  les  caracteres  si  differents  des  trois  interlocuteurs  (6tude  historique 
diflficile). 

Strafford  vient  avertir  la  reine  qu'une  petite  arm6e  de  royalistes  s'est  empar^e 
des  fils  de  Cromwell  revenant  de  dompter  I'Irlande.  En  mettant  Cromwell  entre  ses 
fils  et  le  tr6ne,  on  sauvera  peut-etre  le  roi.    L'acte  finit  sur  cette  lueur  d'esp6rance. 

Acte  troisUme. 

Cromwell  attend  la  reine.  Celle-ci  lui  explique  ce  que  tu  sais  et  le  met  dans 
I'altemative  de  se  prononcer.  Grand  combat  dans  I'^-me  du  protecteur.  Le  roi 
arrive  et  annonce  k  Cromwell  qu'il  a  ordonn6  que  ses  fils  lui  soient  rendus  sans  condi- 
tion. Cromwell,  en  sortant,  laisse  le  spectateur  dans  I'attente.  Quelques  autres 
sc^es  entre  la  reine,  le  roi,  puis  Strafford,  qui  fait  observer  au  roi  qu'il  se  remet  sous 
le  couteau. 

Tous  vont  k  Westminster. 

Acte  quatriime. 

Cromwell  arrive.  L'ambition  I'emporte.  Le  parlement  est  assemble.  Le  roi 
comparalt  et  parle,  pour  la  premiere  ct  demiere  fois,  d'un  ton.  .  .  .  (C'est  li  qu'il 
faut  6tre  sublime!)  La  reine,  indign6e,  se  pr6sente  et  defend  (Dieu  sait  comme!) 
son  diable  de  mari.  Cromwell,  voyant  le  parlement  s'attendrir,  fait  retirer  le  roi  et 
la  reine  pour  ddlib^rer.  Au  moment  o^  les  gardes  les  emmfenent,  la  reine  tente  un 
dernier  effort  aupr^s  de  Cromwell:  elle  lui  off  re  honneurs,  titres,  etc.  Cromwell 
reste  froid. 

La  reine  sort  d€sesp6r6e. 

Acte  cinquUme  {et  le  plus  difficile  de  tous). 

La  sentence  n'est  pas  encore  connue;  mais  Charles  !•',  qui  ne  s'abuse  pas,  entrc- 
tient  la  reine  de  ses  dernieres  volont6s.  (Quelle  sc^ne!)  Strafford  sait  la  condamna- 
tion  et  vient  I'annoncer  k  son  maltre  afin  qu'il  y  soit  prepare  avant  d'entendre  son 
arr6t.  (Quelle  scene!)  Ireton  arrive  chercher  le  roi  pour  le  conduire  devant  ses 
juges.  Charles  I« '  dit  k  Strafford  qu'il  lui  reserve  I'honneur  de  le  conduire  k  I'^chaf aud, 
Adieux  du  roi  et  de  la  reine.  (Quelle  scene!)  Fairfax  accourt;  il  pr6 vient  la  reine  de 
son  danger,  il  faut  qu'elle  fuie  sur-le-champ,  on  veut  la  retenir  prisonni^re  et  lui  faire 
aussi  son  proems. 

La  reine,  toute  k  son  d6sespoir,  n'entend  rien  d'abord,  puis  elle  delate  tout  k  coup 
en  imprecations  contre  I'Angleterre:  elle  vivra  pour  la  vengeance,  elle  lui  soul^vera 
partout  des  ennemis,  la  France  la  combattra,  la  dominera,  I'^crasera  un  jour. 

Ce  sera  le  feu  de  joie,  et  je  te  r^ponds  que  ce  sera  tap6  de  main  de  maltre! 

Puis  le  parterre,  tremp6  de  larmes,  ira  se  coucher.^" 

"  Corr.,  pp.  21-23.     1820. 


18  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

The  plan  of  Cromwell  reveals  several  interesting  facts.  The 
trivial  plot  displays  much  awkwardness  in  the  art  of  constructing  an 
intrigue,  but  at  the  same  time  Balzac  shows  certain  psychological 
preoccupations.  Written  in  1819,  and  reworked  in  1820,  seven 
years  before  Hugo  established  his  dramatic  principles  in  a  play  of  the 
same  name,  Balzac's  plot  is  frankly  romantic.  At  this  time,  it 
will  be  remembered,  the  romantic  drama  was  still  in  its  infancy; 
neither  Hugo  nor  the  elder  Dumas  had  begun  to  write  plays,  and 
such  liberal  classicists  as  Casimir  Delavigne  were  immensely  popular. 
But  the  field  for  future  romanticism  on  the  stage  was  already  being 
cleared  at  the  time  Balzac  was  struggling  with  his  classic  verse. 
The  germs  of  this  later  drama  are  to  be  found  in  the  historical  melo- 
drama of  the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth  century. ^^  Ten  years 
before  Hernani  we  have  a  queen  disguised  and  hiding  behind  a  royal 
tomb  at  Westminster.  .  She  listens  to  conspirators  who  discuss  the 
fate  of  their  king.  Like  Charles  V  before  the  tomb  of  Charlemagne, 
the  English  king  reviews  the  events  of  his  reign  in  a  long  monologue 
at  the  opening  of  the  second  act.  We  are  told  that  a  sublime  duo 
d^amore  is  to  be  enacted  between  the  queen  and  the  king,  and  finally, 
in  the  fifth  act,  ''the  most  difficult  of  all,"  Balzac  tells  us,  the  innocent 
victim — the  queen — declares  that  she  will  avenge  her  husband's 
death,  whereupon  "le  parterre,  trempe  de  larmes,  ira  se  coucher!" 
It  is  curious  to  note  here  all  the  "properties"  of  the  early  romantic 
melodrama.  Conspirators  had  already  found  ample  place  in  Ne- 
pomucene  Lemercier's  Pinto  (1800);  the  disguises,  the  powerless 
victim,  the  abundant  pathetic  scenes,  the  solemn  monologues  and 
grandiloquent  gestures  were  all  dear  to  the  heart  of  Pixerecourt  and 
his  school.  Balzac's  choice  of  subject  even  had  already  found 
favor  among  the  dramatists  of  the  moment.  In  1820,  the  Count 
de  Gain-Montaignac  published  a  volume  of  three  plays,  one  of  which 
dealt  with  the  unhappy  English  monarch,  Charles  I.^^  About  the 
same  time  Merimee  was  making  his  first  experiments  with  the 
drama,  and  one  of  the  earliest  productions  from  his  pen  was  a  his- 

"  On  the  development  of  the  historical  drama  and  the  early  romantic  drama,  see 
two  extremely  valuable  articles  by  Jules  Marsan  in  la  Revue  d'histoire  litteraire:  Le 
Melodrame  et  Guilbert  de  Pixerecourt,  vol.  VII,  1900,  pp.  196-200;  and  le  Theatre 
historigue  et  le  romantisme,  1818-1829,  vol.  XVII,  1910,  pp.  1-33. 

^  Thidtre  par  le  Cte  J.-R.  de  Gain-Montaignac,  gouverneur  du  Chateau  Royal  de 
Pau.  Paris,  Potey  et  Petit,  [1820]. — Charles-Quint  d  Saint  Just. — La  Conjuration  des 
adolescents. — Charles  Premier. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  19 

torical  drama  called  Cromwell,  a  youthful  piece  of  work  which  was, 
like  Balzac's  play,  read  to  friends,  but  never  published.^^ 

Notwithstanding  the  romantic  features  of  the  plot  of  Cromwell, 
Balzac's  conception  was  classic,  and  we  know  the  models  from 
which  he  sought  inspiration.  In  October,  1819,  Delavigne  had 
produced  at  the  Odeon  his  Vipres  siciliennes,  the  last  in  importance 
of  the  historical  tragedies,  and  Balzac  had  no  doubt  seen  it  acted. 
At  any  rate,  in  November  of  the  same  year,  while  at  work  on  his 
drama,  the  author  wrote  to  a  friend,  Theodore  Dablin,  to  send  him  a 
copy  of  the  play.^^  The  elements  which  attracted  him  in  les  Vipres 
siciliennes  were  undoubtedly  the  historical  subject,  the  Cornelian 
sentiment  of  patriotism  and  liberty,  the  elevated  tone  and  the  strict 
adherence  to  the  classic  rules  of  unity  and  versification.  All  of  these 
elements  Balzac  proposed  to  introduce  in  Cromwell.  The  action 
centers  about  the  soul  combat  of  the  Protector  and  the  magnanimity 
of  Charles  I.  Cromwell's  two  sons  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the 
Royalists,  but  the  king  orders  their  unconditional  surrender  to  their 
father.  The  fourth  act  depicts  Cromwell's  dilemma,  terminating 
in  his  refusal  to  spare  the  life  of  the  sovereign. 

Balzac  found  justification  for  his  historical  subject  and,  to  a 
certain  extent,  for  his  form  and  matter  in  the  success  of  Delavigne's 
play.  But  he  determined  also  to  follow  his  "vieux  general,"  Cor- 
neille.  At  this  time  he  had  seen  a  performance  of  Cinnay  and  was 
stirred  by  the  moral  sublimity  in  the  play.^^  This  he  proposed  to 
reproduce  in  Cromwell.  Charles  I,  in  a  monologue,  reviews  the 
unhappy  events  of  his  reign.  "Quel  monologue!"  writes  Balzac,  as 
he  might  also  have  said  of  the  Emperor's  famous  speech  in  Cinna, 
when  he  recalls  the  crimes  and  bloodshed  of  his  reign,  and  the 
ingratitude  of  his  friends.^^  Balzac's  king,  surrendering  Cromwell's 
sons,  is  also  a  memory  of  Augustus's  magnanimity,  when  he  heaps 
favors  upon  the  conspirator,  Cinna.  Cromwell  himself,  who  has 
been  chosen  to  liberate  England,  is  like  the  Corneille  hero  who 
believes  that 

Le  del  entre  nos  mains  a  mis  le  sort  de  Rome.^' 

^'  See  E.  Delecluze,  Souvenirs  de  soixante  annies,  1862,  p.  223.  M.  Marsan,  in  the 
article  cited  supra,  mentions  also  a  play  by  Charles  d'Outrepont,  la  Mort  de  Charles  I, 
published  a  few  years  later,  in  1827. 

14  Cf>rr.,  p.  15. 

16  Cf.  supra,  p.  7. 

i«  Act  IV,  scene  2. 

1'  Cinna,  Act  I,  scene  3. 


20  THE  DRAMA  OP  HONOR^  DE  BALZAC 

For  his  character  study,  Balzac  went  to  Bossuet,  and  studied  the 
admirable  tribute  which  the  latter  paid  England's  unhappy  queen." 
From  Bossuet  he  gleaned  certain  traits  of  his  king,  his  justness  and 
clemency,  and  especially,  in  the  face  of  betrayal,  his  greatness  of  soul. 
Bossuet^s  portrayal  of  Henrietta's  self-sacrifices  upon  her  return 
from  the  fruitless  mission  to  Holland,  her  splendid  defense  of  her 
husband  and  her  pride  so  sadly  humiliated  before  Cromwell,  also 
attracted  Balzac.  He  sought  again  his  portrait  of  the  Protector 
from  Bossuet,  this  chief  sent  by  God  to  liberate  a  kingdom,  but  here 
he  hesitates,  and  cries  out:     "Bossuet  m'epouvante!"" 

Cromwell  was  a  beginning,  and  displays  a  serious  interest  in  the 
stage;  this  is  all  we  may  say  of  the  play.  With  the  pages  of  his 
classic  "generals"  at  hand,  he  set  out  to  treat  a  modern  historical 
theme,  but  the  task  he  found  too  great  for  his  untrained  genius, 
and  the  result  was  a  frigid  and  wearisome  composition. 

During  the  year  1821  Balzac  began  to  write  his  first  novels,  work- 
ing at  his  father's  home  near  Paris.  These  were  poor  productions, 
all  of  them,  and  no  one  was  quicker  to  realize  it  than  the  author 
himself.  In  the  meanwhile  Cromwell  remained  unfinished;  in  fact, 
the  last  word  we  hear  about  it  is  in  a  letter  to  the  author's  sister  in 
1822: 

Mes  id6es  changent  tellement,  que  lefaire  changerait  bientfit!  .  .  .  Encore  quelque 
temps,  et  il  y  aura  entre  le  moi  d'aujourd'hui  et  le  moi  de  demain  la  diff6rence  qui 
existe  entre  le  jeune  homme  de  vingt  ans  et  Thomme  de  trente!  Je  r6fl6chis,  mes  id6es 
m^rissent,  je  reconnais  que  la  nature  m'a  trait6  favorablement  en  me  donnant  mon 
cceur  et  ma  t6te.  Crois-moi,  chere  soeur,  car  j'ai  besoin  d'une  croyante,  je  ne  d6sespftrc 
pas  d'etre  un  jour  quelque  chose.  Je  vois  aujourd'hui  que  Cromwell  n'avait  pas 
m6me  le  m6rite  d'etre  un  embryon;  quand  k  mes  romans,  ils  ne  valent  pas  le  diable, 
et  ne  sont  pas  si  tentateurs  surtout.*" 

A  recollection  of  these  youthful  dramatic  productions  is  to  be  found 
in  la  Feau  de  chagrin  where  Balzac  writes: 

Une  com6die  devait  en  peu  de  jours  me  donner  une  renomm6e,  une  fortune,  et 
l'entr6e  de  ce  monde  oii  je  voulais  reparaltre  en  y  exergant  les  droits  r^galiens  de 
Thomme  de  g^nie.  Vous  avez  tous  vu  dans  ce  chef-d'oeuvre  la  premiere  erreur  d'un 
jeime  honune  qui  sort  du  college,  une  veritable  niaiserie  d'enfant.'* 

"  Oraison  funebre  de  Henriette-Marie  de  France.    November  16,  1669. 

*•  Corr.,  p.  23.    For  further  remarks  on  the  sources  of  Cromwell,  see  Appendix. 

»76ia.,p.  45. 

«  (Euvres,  Vol.  XV,  p.  82. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONOR^  DE  BALZAC  21 

It  is  not  until  ten  years  later  that  Balzac  again  occupies  himself 
with  the  stage.  During  these  years  the  novelist  had  already  come 
into  fame,  and  some  of  his  best  work  had  been  written — les  Chouans, 
Gohsecky  le  Colonel  Chaberl^  Louis  Lambert.  At  this  time  he  was 
engrossed  in  his  novels,  working  with  his  customary  feverish  haste  in 
his  Rue  Cassini  home,  already  undergoing  the  excessive  and  un- 
natural regime  of  long  and  sleepless  hours.  Except  for  a  brief  hint 
in  his  correspondence  of  certain  proposed  collaborations  with  Victor 
Ratier,  editor  of  la  Silhouette^  whose  relations  with  Balzac  were  most 
cordial,  no  mention  is  made  of  theatrical  activity  until  1834.  Bal- 
zac's letter  to  Ratier,  written  from  Nemours  in  May  of  1831,  reads  in 
part  as  follows: 

Mon  judicieux  ami,  a  mon  retour,  je  ne  demande  pas  mieux,  toute  speculation  k 
part,  que  de  travailler  avec  vous  pour  le  theatre,  en  vous  laissant  tout  I'honneur  de  nos 
compositions  androgynes,  de  nous  donner  I'un  k  I'autre  k  tour  dc  r61e  la  canne  de 
I'argousin  pour  frapper  sur  le  torse  du  fain6ant.  ...  Si  nous  avons  le  bonheur  de 
faire  un  bon  Scribe  de  notre  raison  sociale  Ratier,  ce  sera  tant  mieux  et  je  le  desire  bien 
vivement.'^ 

Except  for  these  few  lines,  nothing  more  is  said  of  the  proposed  work. 
The  subject  of  a  historical  play,  with  the  plot  laid  at  the  court  of 
Philip  II,  seems  to  have  occupied  the  mind  of  Balzac  for  some  years. 
The  first  mention  which  is  made  of  such  a  play  is  in  May,  1834,  when 
he  writes  to  Mme  Hanska  that  he  has  thought  of  a  tragedy  in  prose 
entitled  Don  Philippe  et  Don  CharlesP  The  plans  were  set  aside  the 
following  month,  and  we  know  little  of  the  nature  of  these  first 
sketches.  The  name  which  the  author  finally  decided  to  give  to  his 
tragedy  was  Philip pe-le-Reserve,  and  he  writes  of  it  as  follows: 

PhiUppe-le-Reserv6  (Felipe-il-discreto)  est  mis  de  c6t6.  Ndanmoins,  la  litt6rature 
s'inquiete  beaucoup  de  ma  pi^ce.  En  r6ponse  k  ce  que  vous  daignez  m'en  6crire,  je 
vous  dirai  que  Carlos  a  €t6  si  fort  amoureux  de  la  Reine,  qu'il  y  avait  preuve  suffisantc 
que  I'enfant  dont  elle  est  morte  enceinte  {traiUe  pour  une  hydropisie,  car  Dieu  prit  en 
pitiS  le  trdne  d'Espagne  et  aveugla  les  midecins,  propres  termes  du  m6ticuleux  Mariano), 
6tait  de  I'infant.  Ainsi,  dans  ma  piece,  la  Reine  est  coupable,  suivant  les  idfies  ad- 
mises.  Carlos  idem.  Philippe  II,  Charles,  sont  jou6s  par  Don  Juan  d'Autriche. 
Enfin,  je  me  conforme  k  I'histoire  et  la  suis  pied  a  pied.  D'ailleurs,  selon  toute  appa- 
rence,  cette  ceuvre  sera  faite  sous  vos  yeux,  car  c'est  la  seule  chose  que  Ton  puisse  faire 
en  courant,  et  vous  jugerez  de  la  profondeur  politique  de  cette  ^pouvantable  trag6die. 
II  faudra  des  sondes  bien  armies  de  cordes  pour  la  jauger!    Deux  de  mes  amis  fouillent 

«  Corr.,  p.  83. 

»  LEt.,  Vol.  I,  p.  156.    May  10,  1834. 


22  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORf  DE  BALZAC 

avec  ardeur  les  manuscrits  historiques  pour  que  rien  ne  me  manque.     Je  veux  avoir 
jusqu'aux  plans  du  palais  et  jusqu'a  I'etiquette  de  la  cour  d'Espagne  sous  Philippe  II. 2* 

However  ardent  Balzac's  research  into  Mariana's  history  and 
other  less  meticulous  documents  may  have  been  at  the  moment,  as 
he  states  in  his  letter,  the  actual  work  on  this  tragedy  was  delayed 
until  he  went  to  Russia  for  a  few  months  rest.  Later,  he  refers  to 
the  play  as  Philippe-le-Discret,'^^  and  had  evidently  received  sug- 
gestions from  Mme  Hanska  concerning  it.  "Vous  avez  partage  mes 
jugements  sur  Schiller  et  mes  idees  sur  ce  que  je  dois  faire,"  he  writes 
her  on  August  11.  This  sordid  subject,  the  incestuous  love  of  the 
grandson  of  Charles  V  for  his  step-mother,  Elizabeth  of  Valois,  had 
already  been  the  matter  of  Schiller's  Don  Carlos, ^^  and  Balzac 
evidently  proposed  to  make  this  latter  play  his  point  of  departure. 
In  October,  however,  he  had  not  had  time  to  begin  his  tragedy ;2^  in 
fact,  he  was  at  that  moment  interested  in  other  scenic  plans  together 
with  Jules  Sandeau  and  Arago.  Moreover,  his  theatrical  projects 
were  causing  him  a  great  deal  of  trouble. "Mes  essais  de  theatre  vont 
mal,"  he  writes  to  his  sister,  and  he  mentions  the  difficulties  of  the 
historical  drama,  which  exacts  stage  effects  unknown  to  him.  As 
for  comedy,  he  is  trying  to  follow  Moliere  and  finds  him  ''un  maitre 
desesperant."  But  the  real  reasons  for  his  failures  seem  to  have 
been  a  lack  of  time  and  the  difficulties  which  he  experienced  in  having 
his  plays  accepted.^^  By  1837,  he  had  begun  to  work  on  his  Ecole 
des  menages,  and  his  historical  tragedy  was  abandoned.  It  is  not 
until  the  close  of  1841,  after  the  failure  of  Vautrin,  that  we  again 
hear  of  a  Spanish  play  written  about  the  court  of  Philip  II,  and  this 
time  it  is  not  a  tragedy,  but  a  comedy:  les  Res  sources  de  QuinolaP 

In  1834,  Balzac,  correcting  the  proofs  of  la  Recherche  de  Vahsolu, 
and  completing  le  Fere  Goriot,  begins  to  plan  a  theatrical  venture  to 
which  he  refers  as  Marie  Touchet,  ''une  fiere  piece,  ou  je  dresserai  en 
pied  de  fiers  personnages."^"  Marie  Touchet  was  actually  written, 
not,  however,  by  the  hand  of  Balzac.     The  Count  Ferdinand  de 

^  Ibid.,  p.  162.     Junes,  1834. 
25  IbU.,  p.  179.    August  11,  1834. 

^  1783-7.     Don  Carlos,  infant  d'Espagne,  de  Schiller,  traduit  par  Ad.  Legay. 
Paris,  an  YlU.— Theatre  de  Schiller,  traduit  par  Lamartelliere,  Paris,  1799,  2  vol. 
"  LEL,  Vol.  I,  p.  198. 

28  Corr.,  p.  200. 

29  See  p.  72  sf. 

30  Corr.,  p.  198. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  23 

Grammont,  one  of  the  novelist's  friends,  was  entrusted  with  the  task 
of  writing  the  play  for  Balzac,  and  the  manuscript  in  his  hand- 
writing forms  a  part  of  the  Lovenjoul  collection.^^ 

In  October  of  1834  Balzac  proposed  to  collaborate  with  Jules 
Sandeau  and  Emmanuel  Arago  in  a  five-act  play  to  be  called  les  Cour- 
tisans,  a  production  which  would  pay  off  their  debts  and  undoubtedly 
grace  the  boards  of  the  Theatre-Fran fais.^^  Another  play,  with 
Sandeau's  collaboration  we  are  told,  was  begun  at  the  same  time,  a 
comedy  to  bear  the  name  of  la  Grande  Mademoiselle — a  story  of  the 
Duke  de  Lauzun,  which  was  to  have  for  denouement:  Marie,  Hre-moi 
mes  bottes — a  comedy  to  be  launched  forth  into  the  maelstrom  of 
Parisian  melodramas  P 

From  October,  1835,  until  1848  Balzac  was  occupied  at  various 
moments  with  a  play  which  he  calls  Richard  Cosur-d'eponge,  numerous 
fragments  of  which  are  extant  in  the  Chantilly  collection.^*  The 
hero  of  the  play  is  a  carpenter  by  trade,  and  a  drunkard,  the  latter 
winning  him  the  soubriquet,  *'c(Bur-d'eponge."  Begun  in  1835,^^ 
the  idea  was  taken  up  again  in  1838,^^  and  still  not  worked  out  by 
1840,  when  the  following  lines  were  written  in  the  preface  to  Vautrin: 

La  v6ritable  et  meilleure  preface  de  Vautrin  sera  done  le  drame  de  Richard  Coeur- 
d'eponge,  que  radministration  permet  de  repr^senter,  afin  de  ne  pas  laisser  les  rats 
occuper  exclusivement  les  planches  si  f^condes  du  th6a,tre  de  la  Porte-Saint-Martin. 

During  the  first  months  of  1839  three  plays  were  occupying 
Balzac's  attention:  V£,cole  des  menages,  Richard  Coeur-d'eponge, 
and  a  melodrama  called  la  GinaP  This  latter  play  was  begun  in 
September  of  the  previous  year.  Of  its  character  we  know  very 
little.    "C'est  Othello  retourne,"  the  author  writes  to  Mme  Hanska:^* 

La  Gina  sera  un  Othello  femelle.  La  scene  est  a  Venise,  et  je  veux  enfin  essayer 
du  th64tre.  Les  propositions  ne  me  manquent  pas.  On  m'oflfre,  d'un  c6t6,  vingt 
mille  francs  de  prime,  pour  quinze  actes,  et  j'ai  les  quinze  actes  dans  la  tete,  mais  non 
sur  le  papier. 

31  Bire,  H.  de  Balzac,  p.  193. 

32  LEL,  Vol.  I,  p.  20L     October  26,  1834. 

33  Ihid.,  p.  207.     December  1,  1834. 

3*  Lovenjoul,  Autour  de  Honore  de  Balzac,  p.  57.  For  a  further  discussion  of 
Richard  Coeur-d' Sponge,  see  Appendix. 

35  Corr.,  p.  225. 

36  LEL,  Vol.  I,  p.  489. 

''Ibid.,  p.  507.     February  12,  1839. 
38  Ibid.,  p.  489.     September  17,  1838. 


24  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

On  the  following  day,  the  plans  were  abandoned,  and  the  author 
writes  characteristically: 

Le  temps  de  toumer  cette  page,  j'ai  trouv6  la  Gina  trop  difficile;  il  y  a  des  raison- 
nements  qui  assassinent.  Ainsi,  dans  Otkello,  lago  est  le  pilier  qui  soutient  la  conception, 
moi,  je  n'ai  que  I'intdrfet  d'argent,  au  lieu  de  I'int^r^t  de  I'amour  m^connu.  J'ai  trouv6 
mon  personnage  inadmissible.  Un  auteur  de  vaudeville  n'eiit  pas  6t6  arr6t6  par  cette 
difficult^." 

In  September  of  1837  Balzac  began  to  talk  of  a  play,  the  subject 
of  which  was  to  interest  him  for  a  period  of  years: 

"Je  commence  ce  soir,"  he  writes  on  the  first  day  of  the  month, 
"une  comedie  en  cinq  actes,  intitulee:  Joseph  PrudhommeJ^^^  With 
boldness  he  declares  that  the  type  belongs  to  Henry  Monnier,  but 
adds  that  a  creation  is  not  one  of  the  requisites  of  theatrical  success  :^^ 

Seulement,  il  faut  assassiner  Monnier,  et  que  mon  Prudhonmie  soit  le  seul  Prud- 
homme.  II  n'a  fait,  lui,  qu'un  mis6rable  vaudeville  a  travestissements;  moi,  je  ferai 
cinq  actes  au  Th6&tre-Francais. 

All  this,  to  be  sure,  is  little  else  than  pure  boasting.     There  follows  in 
the  same  letter  to  Mme  Hanska  a  plan  of  the  comedy. 

Prudhomme  is  in  love  with  the  daughter  of  a  portress,  a  charming 
girl  of  eighteen,  entirely  comme  il  faut,  who  studies  at  the  Conserva- 
tory and  sees  before  her  the  future  of  a  Mile  Mars.  Her  name  is 
Pamela.  Deceived  by  a  fellow-student,  who  flees  to  America,  the 
poor  girl  is  left  with  a  child,  a  boy.  To  bring  up  this  child  properly 
she  marries  Prudhomme  without  revealing  to  him  her  past  life. 
The  result  of  this  union  is  a  daughter.  All  this  forms  the  prologue 
to  the  play,  and  is  to  be  called  le  Mariage  de  Prudhomme.  The  real 
action  begins  eighteen  years  later.  Prudhomme  is  now  a  prosperous 
banker.  Pamela  is  a  model  wife,  consumed  with  love  for  her  boy, 
who,  thanks  to  Prudhomme's  generosity,  has  been  well  reared,  and 
has  lately  become  a  .clerk  in  Prudhomme's  establishment.  His  name 
is  Adolphe.  In  the  meanwhile  Prudhomme's  daughter  has  grown 
up,  and  has  become  one  of  the  richest  heiresses  in  Paris.  Her  fortune 
tempts  an  old  notary  who  desires  to  make  a  match  between  his  son 
and  the  young  girl,  but  Mme  Prudhomme  looks  with  disfavor  upon 
this.     Noticing  the  fondness  of  Mme   Prudhomme  for  Adolphe,  the 

'•  LEt.^  Vol.  I.  p.  489.    A  few  summary  notes  of  the  plan  of  la  Gina  actually  exist 
in  the  Lovenjoul  collection.    See  Autour  de  Honor e  de  Balzac,  p.  58. 
*o/6tJ.,p.  423. 
«/Wrf.,  pp.  430,  431.    October  10-12,  1837. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  25 

notary  reports  the  fact  to  Prudhomme,  and  succeeds  in  kindling  the 
husband's  jealousy.  Unable  to  explain  her  relationship  to  the 
young  man,  Pamela  allows  unjust  accusations  to  fall  upon  her  head, 
but  takes  her  revenge  by  refusing  to  consent  to  the  proposed  marriage 
of  her  daughter.  Adolphe  is  sent  away.  The  return  of  Pamela's 
former  lover  furnishes  the  climax.  Prudhomme,  suspecting  the 
truth,  resorts  to  the  ruse  of  pretending  to  marry  brother  and  sister 
in  order  to  assure  himself  of  his  wife's  relation  to  Adolphe. 

Such,  in  the  main,  was  the  proposed  plot  of  this  satire  on  bour- 
geois manners.  The  role  of  Pamela  was  destined  for  Mile  Mars. 
Balzac  frankly  admits  that  these  plans  were  pushed  forward  by  an 
urgent  need  of  money.  Furthermore,  he  proposed  to  write  under 
an  assumed  name  an  additional  piece  with  the  same  characters,  a 
vaudeville  to  be  called  Prudhomme  higame, 

Prudhomme  est  avare;  il  tient  sa  femjne  fort  juste,  elle  fait  le  m6nage;  c'est  une 
servante  d6guis6e  sous  le  titre  d^Spouse.  Elle  n'a  jamais  €t€  au  bal  de  rOp6ra.  Sa 
voisine  veut  I'emmener  et,  apres  s'fitre  informde  des  habitudes  conjugales  de  Joseph 
Prudhomme,  les  deux  femmes  font  un  mannequin  qui  ressemble  k  madame  Prudhom- 
me, le  laissent  dans  le  lit  et  vont  au  bal  masqu6.  Prudhomme  rentre,  fait  ses  mono- 
logues, interroge  sa  femme  qui  dort;  enfin,  il  se  couche.  A  cinq  heures  sa  fenrnie  rentre,  et 
il  se  trouve  deux  femmes!  Vous  ne  devinez  guere  les  boufltonneries  que  nos  acteurs 
feront  avec  ce  croquis,  mais  je  vous  jure  que  si  cela  prend,  les  Parisiens  viendront  voir 
cela  cent  fois.  Dieu  le  veuille!  II  ne  m'en  content  qu'une  matinee,  et  cela  pent  valoir 
quinze  mille  francs.  VoilH  la  meilleure  bouflfonnerie!  Mais  tout  depend  de  tant  de 
choses!  II  me  faut  un  pr^te-nom;  puis,  les  th^Atres,  c'est  une  sentine,  et  mon  pied  est 
vierge  de  souillure.  Peut-6tre  la  premiere  et  demifere  representation  sera-t-elle  dans 
cette  lettre.'*^ 

The  latter  statement  was  true,  and  this  is  the  last  we  hear  of  Prud- 
homme bigame. 

On  November  7,  1837,  Balzac  writes  to  Mme  Hanska  that  his 
comedy  had  been  begun,  but  that  he  was  finding  difficulties  with 
the  great  work  which  was  to  throw  Monnier  in  the  shade!**  He 
writes : 

II  faut  que  chaque  mot  soit  un  arrdt  prononce  sur  les  moeurs  de  I'dpoque.  II  ne 
faut  pas  choisir  les  sujets  minces  ni  mesquins.  II  faut  entrer  dans  le  fond  des  choses, 
en  sorte  qu'il  faut  constamment  embrasser  r6tat  social  et  le  juger  sous  une  forme 
plaisante.  II  y  a  mille  choses  H  dire,  et  il  ne  faut  dire  que  la  bonne,  en  sorte  qu'il  y  a 
mille  pens6es  rebutees  sous  une  expression  qui  demeure.  Ce  travail  me  confond.  II  va 
sans  dire  que  j'entends  parler  d'une  ceuvre  de  g6nie,  car  pour  les  trente  mille  pieces 
qu'on  nous  a  donn^es  depuis  quarante  ans,  rien  n'est  plus  facile  k  faire.      Je  suis  tres 

«  LEL,  Vol.  I,  p.  197.    October  18  and  19,  1834. 
« Ibid.,  p.  443. 


26  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

envahi  par  cette  comedie;  je  ne  pense  qu'a  cela,  et  chaque  pensee  en  6tend  les  diffi- 
cultes.  Ce  ne  sera  rien  que  de  la  faire;  il  faudra  la  faire  repr^senter,  et  elle  peut 
tomber.'*^ 

With  the  ardor  so  typical  of  Balzac,  one  detail  of 
Prudhomme's  life  suggested  another.  He  laid  the  plans  for  other 
plays,  all  dealing  with  the  same  hero.  Before  producing  Prudhomme 
parvenu,  he  writes,  he  must  depict  Prudhomme  se  mariant.  ''Ainsi 
me  voila  avec  huit  actes  sur  les  bras  au  lieu  de  cinq."^^ 

In  August  of  the  next  year,  after  his  return  from  Corsica,  Balzac 
writes  Mme  Hanska  that  he  has  been  promised  twenty  thousand 
francs  for  le  Mariage  de  Joseph  Prudhomme  on  the  day  of  the  first 
reading,  but  that  he  has  not  begun  the  play.'*^ 

Balzac's  interest  in  Henry  Monnier,  the  Phellion  of  les  Employes 
(1837)  and  of  les  Petits  bourgeois  (1844),  author,  caricaturist,  play- 
wright and  actor,  is  important.  He  was  intimately  acquainted 
with  the  work  of  this  versatile  genius,  praising  it  at  various  times  in 
his  critical  reviews.^^  Monnier,  like  Balzac,  had  served  time  in  a 
notary's  office,  and  later  in  the  Ministry  of  Justice,  where  he  became 
intimately  acquainted  with  a  great  variety  of  types  of  government 
clerks  and  officials.  In  1828  he  published  an  album  entitled  Mceurs 
administratives  dessinees  d'apres  nature,  in  which  the  various  types  of 
employes  were  caricatured.  This  was  followed  by  an  amusing 
series  of  pen  sketches  called  Scenes  populaires,  which  later  grew  to 
the  extent  of  eight  volumes.  In  these  sketches  and  in  a  vaudeville 
entitled  la  Famille  improvisie,  appeared  for  the  first  time  the  famous 
character  of  Joseph  Prudhomme,  ''professeur  d'ecriture,  eleve  de 
Brard  et  Saint-Omer,  expert  assermente  pres  les  cours  et  tribunaux!" 
La  Famille  improvisee,  a  series  of  comic  episodes  had  been  arranged 
for  the  stage  by  three  vaudevillists,  Dupeuty,  Duvert  and  the  well- 
known  Brazier.  It  was  produced  for  the  first  time  at  the  Theatre  du 
Vaudeville  on  July  5,  1831.^^  The  thread  of  this  amusing  caricature 
is  briefly  as  follows:  Adolphe  has  become  engaged,  without  having 
seen  her,  to  Eulalie,  the  daughter  of  a  retired  merchant.     But  at 

**  Ibid.,  pp.  U6-U7. 

*^  Ibid.,  p.  US. 

« Ibid.,  p.  482. 

*''  See  especially  the  article  on  Gavarni,  published  in  Essais  et  Melanges,  (Euvres, 
Vol.  XXII,  p.  184;  also  the  review  of  Monnier's  album,  Recreations,  in  la  Caricature, 
May  31,  1832.     (Euvres,  Vol:  XXII,  pp.  203-4. 

^*  Published  in  la  France  dramatique  au  19^  siecle,  number  281,  1838. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  27 

Paris  he  has  fallen  in  love  with  an  unknown  lady,  and  wishes  to 
break  his  pledge  to  Eulalie's  parents.  His  friend,  Albert,  agrees  to 
help  him,  and  later,  disguised  as  various  members  of  Adolphe*s 
family,  including  the  famous  Prudhomme,  he  scandalizes  the  parents 
of  Eulalie,  so  that  they  are  eager  to  break  ofiF  the  engagement  of  their 
daughter.  But  Adolphe  finally  recognizes  Eulalie  as  the  fair  unknown 
whom  he  has  seen  at  Paris,  and  the  farce  ends  happily.  Monnier 
played  with  success  the  role  of  Albert  and  the  improvised  family, 
advertising  his  advent  upon  the  stage  in  his  final  couplet: 
Messieurs,  jadis,  dans  una  autre  carriere, 

Votre  indulgence  a  su  me  soutenir; 

J'invoque  ici  votre  bonte  premiere: 

Que  le  passe  protege  Tavenir! 

Songez,  messieurs,  sur  ce  point-la  j'insiste, 

Lorsque  je  brigue  un  suffrage  nouveau, 

Que  devant  vous  c'est  toujours  un  artiste, 

Et  qu'il  n'a  fait  que  changer  de  drapeau. 

The  piece  was  merely  a  travesty,  but  the  character  of  Prudhomme 
became  immensely  popular.  Who  is  Prudhomme?  He  is  the 
symbol  of  the  active,  commercial,  bourgeois  spirit,  rising  to  impor- 
tance through  sheer  blufiF  and  bluster;  he  is  the  type  of  the  grandiose 
politician,  the  stupid  and  vulgar  parvenu,  loud  of  voice,  sententious, 
absurdly  eloquent  and  filled  with  self-importance.  Balzac  was 
enthusiastic  over  Monnier  and  his  creation.  His  letters  are  filled 
with  appreciation  of  the  man's  talent  as  artist  and  actor.  That  he 
should  have  boldly  proposed  to  confiscate  his  Prudhomme  and 
transfer  the  glory  of  the  character  to  a  play  of  his  own  making,  at 
the  same  time  referring  to  its  author  in  the  slighting  terms  cited 
above,  seems  preposterous  to  those  who  are  not  aware  of  the  immense 
vanity  and  utter  assurance  of  the  man.  In  January  of  1840  Monnier's 
creation  was  still  in  his  mind,  and  at  this  time  he  audaciously  pro- 
posed that  Monnier  himself  should  have  the  principal  role  in  this  new 
Prudhommel*^  Three  years  later,  it  is  still  a  question  of  Monnier. 
In  a  letter  dated  February  10,  1844,  Balzac  writes  to  Mme  Hanska: 

Hier,  j'ai  rencontr6  Poirson,  le  directeur  du  Gymnase,  dans  un  omnibus,  et  je 
crois  que  je  vais  arranger  avec  lui  la  comddie  de  Prudhomme  [en  bonne  fortune],  en  la 
faisant  jouer  par  Henry  Monnier.  C'est  une  de  mes  deux  b^quilles  pour  cette  ann^e 
que  cette  piece-1^.  J'irai  la  lui  exposer  lundi  prochain,  et,  si  cela  lui  va,  je  me  mets  k 
la  faire  imm^diatement,  pour  dtre  jou6e  en  mars  ou  mai,  car  mars  m'a  6t6  deux  fois 
fataliso 

«X£^.,  Vol.  I,  p.  526.    January  20, 1840. 
"  Ibid.,  Vol.  II,  p.  304. 


28  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

The  last  line  refers  of  course  to  the  unhappy  productions  of  Vautrin 
and  Quinola,  both  played  in  the  month  of  March.  In  March, 
Poirson  had  accepted  the  comedy,  and  rehearsals  were  to  begin.^^ 
The  r61e  of  Prudhomme  was  to  be  taken  by  the  actor  Dufour. 
However,  the  next  month  his  Prudhomme  projects  were  definitely 
abandoned,^^  when  Balzac  turned  his  attention  from  Monnier  to 
Frederick  Lemaitre. 

In  the  month  of  November,  1843,  Balzac  returned  from  Russia, 
the  failure  of  Pamila  Giraud  fresh  in  his  mind.  The  importance  of 
his  considerable  dramatic  activity  at  this  time  lies  in  the  fact  that 
he  was  writing  solely  for  a  special  actor,  Frederick  Lemaitre. ^^  In 
1842,  Lemaitre  returned  to  the  Porte-Saint-Martin,  newly  opened 
under  the  directorship  of  the  Cogniard  brothers,  in  Ruy  Bias.  The 
same  year  he  played  a  gloomy  melodrama  by  Bouchardy,  called 
Paris  le  Bohemietiy  and  Adolphe  Dumas'  Mile  de  la  Valliere,'** 
Since  Vautrin  Balzac  had  been  eager  for  Lemaitre's  collaboration 
in  a  dramatic  success.  Richard  Cceur-d'eponge  had  been  written  for 
him;  with  Monnier  and  Saint-Firmin  he  was  to  have  had  one  of  the 
principal  roles  in  V^cole  des  menages.^  On  November  7,  1843,  he 
writes  to  Mme  Hanska  that  he  must  prepare  a  play  for  Frederick 
Lemaitre.     This  play  was  the  result  of  reading  Cooper's  Spy: 

Le  drame  que  je  vais  faire  pour  Frederick  aura  pour  base  le  r61e  de  Tespion  dans 
le  roman  de  Cooper;  il  s'adapte  a  merveille  au  talent  de  I'acteur,  qui  veut  des  metamor- 
phoses, et  il  y  a  la  matiere  a  sentiments  patriotiques  qui  manquent  rarement  leur  effet 
sur  le  public.  Mais  le  danger  est  dans  I'intrigue  secondaire,  sur  laquelle  il  f aut  attacher 
le  r6le  de  I'espion.^ 

The  title  of  this  production  was  to  be  le  Heros  ignore,  and  Lemaitre 
was  to  play  the  part  of  Harvey  Birch.^^  At  the  beginning  of  the  next 
year  the  play  was  still  unwritten,  nor  was  it  ever  begun,  for  Balzac 
was  informed  by  the  actor  that  he  had  already  seen  two  productions 
based  on  the  same  subject — one,  the  work  of  D'Epagny,  had  failed 

61  Ihid.,  pp.  314,  325. 

^"-Ihid.,  p.  347.  Monnier's  successful  comedy  in  five  acts,  entitled  Grandeur 
et  decadence  de  M.  Joseph  Prudhomme,  written  in  collaboration  with  Gustave  Vaez,  was 
given  for  the  first  time  at  the  Odeon  on  November  23,  1852,  Monnier  himself  playing 
the  title  role. 

"  Antome-Louis-Prosper  Lemaitre  (1800-1876). 

^  G.  Duval,  Frederick  Lemaitre  et  son  temps,  1876. 

"  G6rard  was  written  for  Lemaitre,  and  Duval  for  Monnier.     See  Corr.,  p.  326. 

66  LE.t.,  Vol.  II,  p.  229.     November  22,  1843. 

"  IhU.,  p.  244.     December  16,  1843. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  29 

at  the  Odeon.*^  In  the  meanwhile,  Balzac  was  busily  engaged  with 
his  comedy,  Mercadet.  Lemaitre  was  achieving  a  triumph  with 
les  Mysteres  de  Paris,  and  Sue's  success  would  not  let  him  rest. 
Mercadet  was  finished,  but  it  suited  neither  the  theatre  for  which 
it  was  destined  nor  the  actor.  On  March  13,  he  writes  to  Mme 
Hanska: 

J'ai  trouve  le  plus  beau  su jet  bouff on  pour  Frederick,  quelque  chose  d'inouI;mais 
je  n'ai  pas  le  temps  de  I'ecrire.  Voici  ce  que  c'est:  peindre  les  Tratnards  de  l'Arm6efran- 
qaise,  en  1813  et  1814,  c'est-^-dire  I'envers  de  la  guerre,  toutes  les  guenilles  qui  tralnent 
apres  une  armee.  Faire  une  piece  qui  soit  a  I'epoque  de  Napoleon  ce  qu'est  Don 
Quichotte  a  la  chevalerie,  montrer  les  SganareUes;  les  Frontins,  les  Mascarilles,  les 
Figaros  de  Tarmee,  ce  qu'on  appelle  les  Fricoteurs,  les  gens  qui  parlent  guerre  et  qui 
n'ont  pas  vu  le  feu,  en  quinze  ans,  et  qui  sont  poursuivis,  ou  par  I'ennemi  ou  par  la 
gendarmerie,  de  I'armee  de  Russie  en  Alsace,  en  passant  par  les  pays  interm6diaires 
qu'on  peindra !  C'est  une  Epopee  drolatique,  et  avec  Fr^d^rick  pour  Achille  en  haillons 
de  gloire,  il  y  a  de  quoi  faire  bien  de  I'argent.  .  .  .  J'irai  voir  demain  Gozlan;  c'est  le 
seul  esprit  capable  d'inventer  I'esprit  de  ces  farces-li.  J'ai  a  lui  proposer  aussi  d'6crire 
une  belle  com^die  pour  le  Theatre-Franfais.^^ 

The  "belle  comedie"  was  Mercadet.  As  for  les  Tratnards,  the  title 
is  all  that  remains  of  this  proposed  farce. 

One  fact  concerning  all  this  activity  is  evident:  Balzac  was 
disheartened  by  his  three  failures  upon  the  stage,  and  by  the  cool 
reception  which  had  greeted  his  J^cole  des  menages,  still  unaccepted. 
He  was  confident,  however,  that  safety  lay  in  the  choice  of  a  popular 
actor  and  a  popular  form  of  play,  so  he  clung  tenaciously  to  Lemaitre 
and  strove  to  imitate  his  most  taking  roles.  Moreover,  he  did  not 
hesitate  to  solicit  aid  from  outside  sources.  Consequently,  we  find 
him  seeking  collaboration  with  such  varied  types  of  genius  as  Gautier 
and  Gozlan,  groping  about  haphazard  for  inspiration  from  Fenimore 
Cooper  or  the  contemporary  farce.  This  is  a  period  that  one  would 
like  to  pass  over  in  silence,  devoid  of  any  real  progress  in  dramatic 
ability,  and  choked  with  hasty,  unfledged  projects  to  win  popular 
favor  and  money. 

Mention  must  be  made  of  another  curious  and  unfruitful  dramatic 
venture  by  Balzac.  In  the  Lovenjoul  collection  is  found  the  title 
page,  list  of  characters  and  notes  of  a  play  which  read  as  follows: 

"/Wi.,p.  283.    January  24,  1843. 
"/W<f.,  p.  330. 


30  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

Orgon 

Com6die  en  cinq  actes 

Personnages 

Mme  Peraelle,  m^re  d'Orgon Mme  Desmousseaux 

Orgon MM.  Samson 

Tartuffe Provost 

Elmire,  femme  d'Orgon Mlle  Mars 

Damis,  fils  d'Orgon 

Marianne  [fille  d'Orgon] Mlle  Brohan 

Valere  [mari  de  Marianne] 

Clitandre  (sic) 

Dorine  [servante  d'Orgon] 

Laurent  [serviteur  de  Tartuffe] M.  R^gnier 

Flipote  [servante  de  Mme  Pemelle] 

Acte  Premier 
Dorine  et  Damis.    Une  scene  entre  chaque  enfant,  d'un  caractSre  different.    Une 
avec  la  femme,  le  beau-frere,  Mme  Pemelle. 

Acte  II 
Co.  .  .  . 
Acte  III 
Acte  de  Tartuffe 

Acte  IV 
Acte  de  la  r6volte 

Acte  V 
R^gne  de  Tartuffe 

Sujet 

Tous  les  ennemis  du  pere  de  famille  qui,  ayant  fait  une  faute,  est  tomb6  dans  le 
m6pris.  Vieillesse  abreuv6e  de  chagrins.  La  femme  devenant  maltresse,  allant  dans 
le  monde  avec  sa  fille.  Le  fils  d6pensier.  Le  vieillard  reste  seul.  II  n'a  plus  que  sa 
mere.  lis  regrettent,  k  eux  deux,  Tartuffe.  Us  font  venir  Laurent  et  s'enquierent  de 
Tartuffe. 

Tartuffe  reseduit  Orgon;  il  lui  dit  que  ses  malheurs  viennent  de  ce  qu'il  s'est 
laiss6  dominer  trop,  que  le  pouvoir  du  pere  de  famille  doit  ^tre  absolu,  qu'il  est  I'image 
de  Dieu  sur  la  terre,  que  la  dissipation  de  sa  femme  vient  de  son  irr^ligion,  qu'elle 
finira  par.  .  .  . 

In  addition  to  the  above  fragment,  we  liave  also  preserved  a 
prose  plan  of  the  comedy  written  in  Balzac's  hand,  and  the  manu- 
script of  the  first  act  in  verse  by  the  hand  of  another.  When  this 
comedy  was  conceived,  we  are  unable  to  say.  Lovenjoul  determines 
it  roughly  between  1835  and  1841 — the  former  date  marking  the 
actor's  Provost's  debut  at  the  Comedie  Franjaise,  the  latter,  Mlle 
Mar's  retirement  from  the  stage.^'' 

•*  See  article  by  Lovenjoul  in  le  Figaro,  May  21,  1899. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONOR:^  DE  BALZAC  31 

After  his  scenario  was  written,  Balzac  was  anxious  to  put  his 
comedy  into  verse,  a  form  which  he  doubtless  regarded  necessary 
for  his  classic  subject.  For  this  task  a  collaborator  was  sought, 
though  it  was  not  until  1847  that  the  busy  playwright  occupied 
himself  seriously  with  the  task.  On  June  25  of  this  year  he  writes 
to  Mme  Hanska: 

Si  je  fais  du  theatre,  j'aurai  beaucoup  de  courses  a  faire.  Je  pense  beaucoup  a 
faire  Orgon,  et  demain  je  verrai  Theophile  Gautier,  mon  voisin,  pour  savoir  s'il  veut 
mettre  ma  prose  en  vers.*^ 

The  next  day,  however,  Balzac  writes  that  Gautier  is  too  busy 
to  help  him: 

Alors,  j'ai  eu  I'idee  de  donner  un  acte  k  Charles  de  Bernard,  deux  actes  k  M6ry, 
et  de  distribuer  les  deux  autres  k  deux  autres  poetes,  comme  Gramont,  etc.,  si  ce 
pro  jet  de  mon  esprit  subsiste;  car  j'ai  I'exp^rience  qu'avant  de  mordre  k  son  oeuvre, 
ma  tfite  lutine  avec  des  sujets.®* 

By  June  28  he  had  found  a  poet  who  was  willing  to  aid  him  with 
his    versifying: 

J'ai  d^couvert  un  rimeur  e£fr6n6  pour  Orgon.  J'ai  mis  du  monde  ^  sa  piste.  II  se 
nomme  Am6d6e  Ponmaier.    Quels  fruits  en  retirerai-je?  I'^v^nement  le  dira.  .  ." 

Balzac's  acquaintanceship  with  Pommier  was  of  some  years 
standing.  In  1842,  the  novelist  had  received  a  flattering  mention 
in  a  volume  of  verse  by  Pommier  entitled  Crdneries  et  dettes  de  cceur,^ 
and  had  written  a  cordial  letter  to  the  poet  in  reply .*^     Before  the 

*'  Cited  by  Lovenjoul  in  article  supra. 

^Ubid. 

"Ibid. 

"  Corr.,  pp.  350  and  362.    Am6d6e  Pommier:  Lyons,  1804— Paris,  1877. 

•  "A  M.  Am6d6e  Pommier,  homme  de  lettres,  k  Paris. 

23  avril,  1842. 
"Monsieur, 

"Je  vous  remercie  et  de  votre  receuil  et  de  ce  que  vous  y  dites  de  flatteur  pour  moi; 
malgre  la  modestie  de  votre  lettre  d'envoi,  j'ai  lu  tout,  et  je  vous  trouve  trop  de  talent 
et  d'avenir  pour  ne  pas  vous  dire  d'ecouter  ce  que  vous  vous  etes  adress6  a  vous-m6me 
par  la  bouche  de  Boileau.* 

"J'aurais,  en  qualite  d'admirateur  presque  enthousiaste  des  pontes,  beaucoup 
d'observations  a  vous  faire,  dans  votre  int^ret;  mais  je  n'ai  point  le  temps  de  les  6crire, 
ha,t6  que  je  suis  de  tracer,  comme  un  pauvre  bceuf  de  prosateur,  mon  sillon  tons  les 
jours;  mais,  si  je  me  trouve  un  matin  de  bonne  heure  vers  le  quartier  oii  vous  demeurez, 
j'irai  frapper  i  votre  porte  et  vous  soumettre  de  vive  voix  mes  critiques  amicales. 

"Agr6ez,  monsieur,  mes  compliments  et  mes  voeux  pour  de  nouveaux  succes. 
H.  de  Balzac." — Cited  by  Lovenjoul  in  article  supra. 

*  Poem  entitled  Apparition. 


32  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

first  of  July,  1847,  Balzac  had  submitted  his  prose  plan  to  Pommier, 
and  the  latter  had  undertaken  the  collaboration.  In  September, 
Balzac  went  to  Russia,  and  it  was  during  the  months  of  July  and 
August  that  Pommier  put  into  verse  the  first  act  of  Orgon,  following 
with  exactitude,  so  Lovenjoul  tells  us,  the  plan  submitted  by  Balzac. 
This  one  act  is  all  that  was  ever  completed.  Lovenjoul  has  pub- 
lished the  only  fragment  of  the  play  which  we  have  in  Balzac's  hand, 
the  prose  plan  which  he  originally  conceived.^ 

What  Balzac  has  proposed  to  do  is  no  less  a  task  than  to  resume 
the  history  of  Tartuffe  at  the  point  where  Moliere  has  left  off:  to 
depict  the  distress  of  Orgon  after  the  departure  of  his  "directeur  de 
conscience,"  humiliated  by  his  family,  and  determined  to  have 
Tartuffe  back.  Nothing  more  ambitious  or  preposterous  can  be 
imagined  than  this  project  suggested  by  Moliere 's  play,  or  than  the 
method  of  composition  which  Balzac  proposed  to  follow. 

Orgon,  when  finished,  was  to  have  been  submitted  to  the  actors 
of  the  Comedie  Franyaise.  At  the  same  time  Balzac  was  planning 
two  other  plays,  one  of  which  was  la  Mardtre,  to  which  the  author 
refers  as  "un  gros  melodrame."^^  After  the  opening  of  the  Theatre 
Historique  on  February  20,  1847  with  Dumas'  Reine  Mar  got  ^ 
Balzac  was  as  eager  as  ever  to  compete  with  the  dramatist  who  was 
then  the  idol  of  all  Paris. *^  The  theatre  was  under  the  directorship 
of  H.  Hostein,  former  "regisseur  general"  of  the  Ambigu-Comique. 
In  August  of  that  year  Balzac  confided  to  Hostein  that  he  had 
planned  for  a  long  time  a  historical  drama  with  the  title  of  Pierre  et 
Catherine.     The  interview  is  recounted  by  Hostein  as  follows: 

Nous  sommes,  dit  Balzac,  dans  une  auberge  russe.  Vous  voyez  d'ici  le  d^cor? 
Bon.  Dans  cette  auberge,  beaucoup  de  mouvement,  parce  qu'il  y  a  sur  la  route  des 
passages  de  troupes.  On  entre,  on  sort,  on  boit,  on  cause,  mais  tout  cela  tres  rapide- 
ment. 

Parmi  les  gens  de  la  maison,  une  servante,  jeune,  vive,  alerte.  Faites  attention 
h,  cette  fenune-la!  ....  EUe  est  bien  campee,  pas  de  beaute,  mais  un  piquant  excep- 
tionnel!  On  la  lutine  en  passant:  elle  sourit  a  tout  le  monde:  mais  ceux  dont  les 
propos  ou  les  gestes  sont  trop  vifs  trouvent  vite  a  qui  parler. 

Entre  un  soldat  plus  crane  que  les  autres  et  qui  semble  moins  press6.  II  cause 
longuement  avec  la  servante,  la  fait  asseoir  pres  de  lui  et  veut  trinquer  avec  elle. 

••  Article  cited  supra.  For  this  prose  plan,  see  Appendix.  On  May  21,  1899,  on 
the  occasion  of  the  Balzac  centenary,  the  first  and  only  performance  of  Ponmiier*s 
fragment  was  given  by  the  Com6die  Franjaise  company. 

*^  Cited  by  Lovenjoul  in  article  supra. 

**  See  Hostein,  Historiettes  et  souvenirs  d'un  homme  de  thidtre,  1878.  Also,  Henri 
Beaulieu,  Thidtre  du  boidevard  du  crime,  1905,  pp.  155-158. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  33 

Comme  le  vieux  hotelier  fait  mine  de  se  facher,  le  soldat  se  leve  avec  fureur,  et,  f rappant 
du  poing  la  table:  "Qu'on  ne  s'oppose  pas  k  ma  volont6,  sinon  je  mets  le  feu  a  la 
baraque !" 

L'h6telier  fait  signe  a  la  jeune  fille  d'obeir.  Que  voulez-vous?  lorsque  les  troupes 
ftont  d6chainees  dans  les  campagnes,  le  pauvre  paysan  est  bien  en  peine! 

Le  soldat  s'est  remis  a  table.  II  continue  a  boire  et  a  courtiser  la  fille,  qui  sourit 
k  ses  propos.  "Va,  lui  dit-il,  tu  ne  seras  pas  malheureuse  avec  moi.  Je  te  donnerai  une 
bien  plus  belle  cabane  que  celle-ci." 

Tandis  qu'ils  causent  tous  les  deux,  sans  s'occuper  d'autre  chose,  la  porte  du  fond 
s'ouvre.  Un  oflbcier  parait.  En  le  voyant,  chacun  se  leve  avec  respect.  Seuls  le 
soldat  et  la  servante  demeurent  assis.  lis  n'ont  ni  vu  ni  entendu  I'officier,  qui  s'avance 
vers  la  table,  et,  posant  lourdement  la  main  sur  I'epaule  du  soldat,  lui  crie:  "Debout, 
drdle !  Va  ^crire  sur  le  comptoir  ton  nom,  celui  de  ton  regiment,  ton  num^ro  d'ordre, 
et  attends-toi  k  avoir  bientdt  de  mes  nouvelles!" 

Le  soldat  se  dresse  automatiquement,  fait  le  salut  militaire,  et  va  inscrire  au 
comptoir  ce  que  lui  a  6te  demande.     Ayant  6crit,  il  pr6sente  humblement  le  papier. 

"C'est  bon,  dit  Tofficier,  va-t'en!" 

Le  soldat  fait  un  nouveau  salut,  tourne  sur  ses  talons  selon  I'ordonnance,  et  sort 
sans  regarder  personne,  pas  meme  la  jolie  fille. 

Mais  d6ja  I'officier  a  pris  la  place  qu'occupait  le  soldat;  assise  a  ses  c6t6s,  la 
sefvante  6coute  ses  galants  propos. 

Un  Stranger  se  montre  a  la  porte  d'entrde.  II  est  envelopp6  dans  un  grand  man- 
teau.  A  sa  vue,  hommes  et  fenunes  tombent  k  genoux.  Quelques-uns  inclinent  leur 
front  jusqu'a  terre. 

Pas  plus  que  n'avait  fait  le  soldat,  I'officier  ne  remarque  pas  ce  qui  se  passe  der- 
rifire  lui.  La  s^duisante  fille  d'aubergt  est  en  train  de  I'ensorceler.  II  s'6crie  dans  un 
moment  d'enthousiasme :  "Tu  es  divine,  je  t'emmSne.  Tu  auras  un  bel  appartement 
ou  il  fait  tres  chaud." 

Cependant  I'homme  au  manteau  s'est  approch6;  rejetant  son  manteau  en  arridre 
et  croisant  ses  bras  sur  sa  poitrine,  il  se  montre  a  I'officier.  L'officier  p^it,  se  leve, 
s'inclinant  tr^s  bas,  it  balbutie  ces  mots: 

"Ah!  pardon.  Sire!" 

"Rel^ve-toi." 

De  m^me  encore  que  le  soldat,  I'officier  se  leve  tout  d'une  piece,  attendant  le  bon 
plaisir  du  maitre.  Le  maitre  etait  occupe  a  regarder  de  pres  la  servante;  de  son  c6t6, 
elle  consid^rait  avec  attention  et  sans  trembler  le  t^ar  tout-puissant. 

"Tu  peux  te  retirer,  dit  celui-ci  a  I'officier.  Je  garde  cette  femme,  je  lui  donnerai 
un  palais!" 

Ainsi  se  rencontr^rent  pour  la  premiere  f  ois  Pierre  I*'  et  celle  qui  devint  Catherine 
deRussie!  .... 

"Eh  bien,  que  dites-vous  de  mon  prologue?"  demanda  Balzac. 

"Tres  curiex,  tres  original!  mais  le  reste?" 

"Sous  peu,  vous  I'aurez.    La  donn6e  est  int^ressante,  vous  verrez!"  .... 

Although  the  scenario  which  Balzac  sketched  for  Hostein  is  far  from 
complete,  we  are  struck  by  the  insistence  of  the  dramatist  upon 
realistic  detail,  both  in  the  setting  and  in  the  characterization.     In 


34  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

fact,  it  was  a  lack  of  historical  information  about  customs,  costumes, 
landscapes  and  the  like,  all  of  which  he  had  determined  to  have  in 
keeping  with  his  subject,  that  detained  him.  He  contemplated  a 
visit  to  Russia,  where  he  intended  to  finish  his  play,  and  his  visit  to 
Wierzchownia  was  actually  made  in  the  autumn  of  1847,  when  he 
remained  as  Mme  Hanska's  guest  for  over  four  months.  But  the 
play  was  never  finished.  La  Mardtre,  produced  on  May  25,  1848, 
preceded  only  a  few  days  the  socialist  uprising  of  June,  and  the 
lean  theatrical  days  to  follow.  During  the  insurrection  of  June, 
Balzac  wrote  the  following  letter  to  Hostein,  the  last  word  we  have 
about  his  Russian  drama: 

Je  me  demande  si,  apres  la  haiaille  des  prolitaires,  apr^s  cette  funeste  affaire,  et 
alors  que  les  theatres  vont  ^tre  priv6s  de  spectateurs  pendant  trois  mois,  je  dois  con- 
tinuer  a  travailler  a  mon  drame  de  Pierre  et  Catherine.  II  me  serait  indiff6rent  de 
risquer  une  piece  comme  on  en  peut  trouver  k  tout  moment;  mais  ce  drame  est  plus 
qu'une  pi^ce.  C'est  un  sujet,  une  de  ces  rencontres  qu'on  ne  fait  pas  deux  fois,  comme 
les  Na-poUon  du  Cirque.  Si  vous  pensez  que  les  circonstances  politiques  vous  per- 
mettront  de  monter  Pierre  et  Catherine  en  octobre,  je  viendrai  I'achever  a  Paris,  et  je 
quitterai  les  cMteaux  oil  je  suis  comme  un  coq  en  pS,te.  En  attendant,  on  pourra 
donner  au  th6itre  des  bouffonneries  sans  amertume,  comme  les  Macaires,  et  incliner 
aux  Saltimbanques.^^ 

After  the  unprofitable  days  of  June,  the  theatres  began  to  regain 
courage  and  to  search  about  for  new  material.  Alexandre  Mauzin, 
who  had  been  recently  appointed  director  of  the  Odeon,  made  an 
offer  to  Dumas,  Hugo  and  Balzac  of  six  thousand  francs  each  if  they 
would  furnish  his  theatre  with  a  play  apiece.  Dumas,  we  are  told, 
proposed  that  his  son  should  write  a  Faust;  Hugo  declined  outright, 
but  Balzac  accepted  the  offer  with  the  promise  of  a  drama  to  be 
called  Richard  Sauvage,  of  which  he  composed  solely  one  monologue. ^° 
In  August  of  the  same  year  it  was  a  question  of  a  five-act  comedy 
for  the  Theatre  Frangais,  to  be  called  les  Petite  BourgeoisJ^  Not 
a  line  of  the  text  was  written,  although  the  title  and  the  list  of  char- 
actors  are  to  be  found  in  the  Chantilly  collection. 

"•  Fragment  of  a  letter  to  Hostein,  published  in  le  Gaulois,  December  13,  1869. 
See  Lovenjoul,  Eistoire  des  ceuvres,  p.  224. 

'"  Histoire  administrative,  anecdotique  et  littiraire  du  Thedtre-Franqaisy  by  P.  Porel 
and  G.  Monval,  1882,  Vol.  II,  p.  291. 

'^  See  Hippolyte  RoUe  in  le  Constitutionnel,  August  8,  1848;  also  Balzac's  letter  to 
Rolle,  Corr.,  p.  572.  The  posthumous  novel,  les  Petits  Bourgeois,  unfinished  by  Balzac, 
appeared  first  in  le  Pays,  in  1854.     See  Lovenjoul,  Histoire  des  ceuvres,  p.  143. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  35 

In  September  of  the  same  year  Balzac  went  to  Russia,  entrusting 
his  dramatic  interests  to  his  friend,  Laurent-Jan.  During  this 
period  negotiations  with  the  Theatre  Fran^ais  and  the  The§,tre 
Historique  for  Mercadet  were  going  on.  Balzac  was  at  the  same 
time  sketching  another  play,  and  writes  to  his  sister  in  January  1849 
that  le  Roi  des  mendiants,  for  Hostein,  is  being  completed,  "une 
piece  de  circonstance  en  republique  et  flatteuse  pour  la  majeste 
populaire."'^  Laurent-Jan  urged  Balzac  to  send  this  play  or  some 
other  as  soon  as  possible,  and  wrote  despairingly  of  the  actual  con- 
dition of  the  stage.'''  By  April,  according  to  the  author's  own  word, 
le  Roi  des  mendiants  was  finished,  as  well  as  a  play  for  the  Theatre 
Historique  with  a  principal  role  for  Mme  Dorval,'^*  a  r61e  which 
she  was  never  to  see,  since  the  actress  died  in  May  of  the  same  year. 
As  for  le  Roi  des  mendiants ^  it  was  never  sent  to  Paris,  Balzac  arguing 
that  it  was  well-nigh  impossible  to  forward  a  manuscript  across  the 
Russian  frontier. 

In  spite  of  an  illness  which  was  soon  to  carry  him  to  his  grave, 
Balzac  still  continued  to  write  for  the  stage,  talking  bravely  of 
embarking  again  in  his  "galere  dramatique."^^  In  the  month  of 
May  1850,  he  returned  from  Russia  and  his  brief  honeymoon  in 
Germany.  He  was  in  wretched  health,  and  unable  to  work.  Still 
his  mind  was  occupied  with  his  plays.  Arsene  Houssaye,  at  that 
time  director  of  the  The&tre  Fran^ais,  publishes  in  his  Confessions 
a  letter  which  he  received  from  Balzac  shortly  after  his  return: 

Mon  cher  directeur, 
J'arrive  de  Russie.    Venez  me  voir  ces  jours-ci  pour  causer  de  mon  th6Atre.    Dans 
mon  esprit,  la  Comedie  Frangaise  doit  ^tre  le  couronnement  de  ma  Com6die  humaine. 
Mes  voyages  m'ont  coup6  les  jambes.    Je  ne  puis  aller  vous  voir.^' 

In  the  autumn  of  1849,  Houssaye  had  written  to  Balzac,  request- 
ing a  drama  or  a  comedy,  and  was  eager  to  produce  something  from 
his  pen.  It  is  significant  that  these  last  days  of  a  literary  career 
such  as  was  Balzac's,  marked  by  such  intense  labor  and  immense 
production,  should  have  been  spent,  like  the  early  days  of  his  vague 
and  formless  essays,  in  writing  for  the  stage.     As  he  began,  so  he 

'«C<)rr.,  p.  600. 

'3  Letter  dated  March  15,  1849,  published  by  Lovenjoul,  Aulour  de  Honors  de 
Balzac,  pp.  247-253. 

^*Corr.,pp.  615  and  618. 
76  IbiL,  p.  642. 
7«Vol.  Ill,  p.  118. 


36  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

ended  his  career.  On  the  very  day  of  his  death  Houssaye  recounts 
how  he  entered  the  great  man's  study,  and  found  on  his  desk  the 
fragment  of  a  comedy  which  he  had  never  seen.^^  The  whole  period 
of  his  literary  activity  was  marked  by  theatrical  ventures;  at  times, 
the  dramatist's  ambition  overshadowed  that  of  the  novelist.  Before 
approaching  those  plays  which  have  been  actually  produced,  what 
conclusions  may  be  drawn  from  the  mass  of  scenic  projects  already 
traced  ?^^ 

One  fact  is  evident:  during  Balzac's  long  novelistic  career,  he  had 
many  ideas  for  plays;  but  these  ideas,  in  general,  were  not  of  great 
value,  and  were  not  developed.  That  he  produced  nothing  from  the 
mass  of  vaudevilles,  farces  and  light  comedies  whose  history  has  been 
traced  in  the  present  chapter,  is  undoubtedly,  first  of  all,  because  he 
lacked  the  time  to  devote  to  them.  Again,  Balzac,  in  spite  of  his 
ephemeral  enthusiasm,  quickly  perceived  the  mediocrity  of  these 
scenic  plans  and  partially  completed  sketches,  and  found  nothing 
worthy  of  bis  genius  in  them.  There  was  little  sincerity  in  the  attack 
of  a  vaudeville  like  Prudhomme  bigame  by  the  novelist  who  had  just 
completed  le  Pere  Goriot;  little  enthusiasm  in  the  creator  of  Lucien 
de  Rubempre  when  he  shifted  his  energies  to  a  Cooper  melodrama. 

Before  seeking  to  draw  further  conclusions,  let  us  turn  to  the 
more  serious  dramatic  productions  of  Balzac,  and  endeavor  to 
establish  the  extent  of  their  importance  in  the  field  of  his  activity. 

"  Vol.  IV,  p.  225. 

'8  Armand  Baschet,  in  le  Mousquetaire,  March  17,  1854,  has  published  the  list  of 
proposed  plays,  including  l'£cole  des  manages  and  Mercadet,  which  were  actually 
written,  from  a  document  which  Balzac  himself  drew  up.    This  list  reads  as  follows: 

V&cole  des  menages  La  Succession  Pons 

Richard  Cosur-d'eponge  U&dttcation  du  Prince 

La  Comedie  de  V  amour  Les  Courtis ans 

Les  Petits  Bourgeois  Le  Ministre 

La  Conspiration  Prud'homme    Organ 

La  Folk  J^preuve  L'Armee  roulante 

Le  Roi  des  mendiants  Sophie  Prud'homme 

Le  Mariage  Prud'homme  Annunciata 

Le  Pere  prodigue  La  Veille  et  le  lendemain 

Pierre  et  Catherine  Gobseck 

Mercadet  La  Fille  et  la  femme 


in 

L'fiCOLE  DES  MANAGES 

During  Balzac's  lifetime,  and,  in  fact,  after  his  death,  V^cole  des 
menages  never  found  its  way  into  any  theatrical  repertory,  nor  has  it 
been  included  in  any  edition  of  the  author's  works.  Its  preservation 
and  subsequent  publication^  are  due  to  the  efforts  of  the  late  Viscount 
de  Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul,  who  found  in  1878  the  only  known  copy 
of  the  play.  It  had  been  advertised  for  sale  in  a  book-catalogue  of 
the  Librairie  Bailleu  at  Paris  as  follows: 

Exemplaire  unique,  avec  les  corrections  de  I'auteur  et  s'arretant  a  la  scene  V  du 
5«  acte.  Cette  piece  fut  abandonn6e  par  Balzac,  qui  plus  tard  en  reprit  quelques 
scenes  qu'il  adapta  k  la  oomedie  de  Mercadet.  ^ 

Comparing  his  purchase  later  with  the  manuscript  copy  belonging 
to  Mme  de  Balzac,  Lovenjoul  found  the  play  complete,  and  that  no 
fragment  had  been  utilized  in  Mercadet. 

To  Lovenjoul  also  belongs  the  sole  credit  for  a  comprehensive 
and  extremely  interesting  history  of  the  play,  the  essay  appearing 
first  in  le  Figaro,  September  11  to  16,  1895,  and  afterwards  incor- 
porated in  his  volume  entitled  Autour  de  Honors  de  Balzac,  pages 
91  to  95.     Briefly,  this  history  is  as  follows: 

Planned  as  early  as  1837,^  it  was  during  the  summer  of  1838  that 
the  play,  successively  called  la  Premiere  Demoiselle,  la  Demoiselle  du 
magasin,  and  finally  VEcole  des  menages,  was  written.  We  are  told 
that  Balzac  took  a  certain  young  poet  named  Lassailly"'  into  his 
employ  to  help  with  the  composition.  It  was  at  this  moment  that 
his  theatrical  activity  had  reached  its  most  feverish  stage.  His 
Sardinian  mine  scheme  had  failed,  and  the  disappointed  prospector 

^  Honore  de  Balzac,  (Euvre  posthume,  V6,cole  des  menages.  Tragedie  bourgeoise 
en  cinq  actes  et  en  prose,  precedee  d'une  lettre  par  le  Vicomte  de  Spoelberch  de  Loven- 
joul.    fidition  originale.  .  .  .  Paris.  L.  Carteret,  1907. 

See  G.  Vicaire  in  le  Bulletin  de  bibliophile,  1907,  pp.  296,  297;  also,  J.  Claretie  in 
le  Temps,  March  29,  1907. 

2  LEt.,  Vol.  I,  pp.  381,  382.     February  12,  1837. 

^  An  amusing  account  of  Lassailly's  sojourn  at  les  Jardies  is  told  by  Gozlan  in  his 
volume  entitled  Balzac  en  pantoufles,  1865,  pp.  66-74.  Se  also  Gerard  de  Nerval's 
article  in  la  Presse,  October  7,  1850,  the  greater  part  of  which  has  been  cited  by  Loven- 
joul, Autour  de  Honore  de  Balzac,  pp.  179-191. 


38  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONOR^  DE  BALZAC 

was  in  the  most  pressing  financial  straits.      To  Mme  Zulma  Carraud 
he  writes  in  July: 

Je  mene  de  front  i  la  fois  le  theatre  et  la  librairie,  le  drame  et  le  livre.  .  .  .  Quoique 
je  sois  6treiiit  par  une  n6cessit6  qui  n'a  jamais  desserre  un  seul  bouton  de  sa  camisole 
d'acier  dqDuis  ma  naissance,  j'ai  plus  que  jamais  foi  dans  men  travail;  j'ai  promesse 
de  vingt  mille  francs  d'un  theatre  pour  la  piece  que  je  fais,  et  je  vais  organiser  mes 
travaux  dramatiques  sur  la  plus  grande  ^chelle,  car  la  desormais  est  la  recette.  Les 
livres  ne  donnent  plus  rien."* 

On  November  8,  1838,  the  Theatre  de  la  Renaissance  opened 
with  Ruy  Bias,  Frederick  Lemaitre  playing  the  title  role.  The 
director,  An  tenor  Joly,  wished  a  play  of  Balzac  to  follow  Hugo's. 
Armand  Pereme,  a  well-known  antiquarian  whom  Balzac  had  met 
in  Berry,  seems  to  have  acted  as  an  intermediary  between  the 
dramatist  and  the  director,  Joly.  In  a  letter  from  Pereme,  dated 
December  9,  1838,  Balzac  was  assured  by  the  Renaissance  of  sixteen 
thousand  francs  for  his  play,  and  the  writer  says:  "Le  theatre  a 
besoin  de  vous  et  il  ne  saurait  trop  faire  pour  obtenir  votre  assistance.* 
Balzac  replied  that  he  would  prepare  not  one,  but  three  five-act  plays 
for  the  Renaissance,  to  be  completed  within  a  year's  time.^  In  the 
same  letter  to  Pereme  he  writes  that  rehearsals  for  his  "drame  de  la 
vie  bourgeoise"  can  probably  begin  in  January,  1838. 

The  play  was  finally  rejected  by  the  Renaissance  for  Dumas' 
Alchimiste,  the  latter  produced  on  April  10,  1839.  With  bitterness 
the  author  wrote  to  Mme  Carraud  from  Les  Jardies  in  March: 

La  Renaissance  m'avait  promis  six  mille  francs  de  prime  pour  lui  faire  une  pi^ce 
en  cinq  actes;  P6rem6  avail  6te  I'entremetteur,  tout  etait  convenu.  Comme  il  me 
faUait  six  mille  francs  a  la  fin  de  fevrier,  je  me  mets  k  I'oeuvre,  je  passe  seize  nuits  et 
seize  jours  au  travail,  ne  dormant  que  trois  heuressurles  vingt-quatre;  j'emploie  vingt 
ouvriers  £L  I'imprimerie,  et  j'arrive  £t  ^crire,  faire  et  composer  VJ^cole  des  minages,  en 
cinq  actes,  et  k  pouvoir  la  lire  le  25  fevrier.  Mes  directeurs  n'avaient  pas  d'argent,  ou 
peut-^tre  Dumas,  qui  leur  avait  fait  faux  bond  et  avec  lequel  ils  s'etaient  f&ch6s,  leur 
est-il  revenu;  ils  n'^coutent  pas  ma  piece  et  la  refusent.  Ainsi  me  voil^  €chm6  de 
travail,  seize  jours  de  perdus,  six  mille  francs  a  payer,  et  rien!  Ce  coup  m'a  abattu, 
je  n'en  suis  pas  encore  remis.  Ma  carriere  au  theatre  aura  les  memes  6v6nements 
que  ma  carriere  litt6raire;  ma  premiere  oeuvre  sera  refus6e.  II  faut  un  courage  sur- 
humain  pour  ces  terribles  ouragans  de  malheur.' 

*  Corr.,  p.  306. 

*  Autour  de  EonorS  de  Balzac,  p.  122. 

*  Letter  dated  December  11,  1838. 

^  Corr.,  p.  327.  After  the  posthumous  performance  of  Mer cadet,  arranged  by  the 
dramatist,  D'Ennery,  V£,cole  des  manages  was  also  submitted  to  him  for  a  reworking, 
but  the  task  was  refused.  The  first  performance  of  the  play  occurred  on  March  13, 1910, 
at  the  Od6on,  when  the  Lovenjoul  text  was  produced  along  with  la  Manette  Salomon  of 
Edmond  de  Goncourt  and  le  Candidal  of  Flaubert. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  39 

The  action  of  the  play  takes  place  in  the  home  of  a  certain  M. 
Gerard,  the  head  of  a  prosperous  business  firm.  This  man,  past  his 
fiftieth  year  and  the  father  of  two  grown  daughters,  has  formed  a 
violent  attachment  for  the  chief  clerk  in  his  establishment,  Mile 
Adrienne  Guerin.  His  conduct  has  been  noticed  by  all  the  members 
of  his  family,  even  by  the  servants,  who  gossip  openly  about  their 
master's  bounty  to  the  girl.  Moreover,  Gerard  has  determined  to 
marry  his  daughter,  Caroline,  secretly  in  love  with  a  young  clerk 
named  Hippolyte,  to  Adrienne's  brother,  an  alliance  which  the 
family  considers  to  be  far  beneath  them.  Mme  Gerard's  brother,  a 
wealthy  druggist  named  Duval,  forseeing  the  disastrous  consequences 
of  the  old  man's  affair,  promises  Roblot,  the  worthy  cashier  of  the 
firm,  to  set  him  up  in  a  splendid  banking  business  if  he  will  obtain 
the  hand  of  Mile  Adrienne  and  marry  her.  At  the  opening  of  the 
play  we  see  Roblot  making  an  early  morning  declaration  of  love  to 
the  chief  clerk,  but  he  is  unsuccessful  in  his  suit.  It  is  then  that 
Mme  Gerard  and  her  daughters,  in  wait  for  some  excuse  to  expel 
the  girl,  accuse  her  of  a  love-affair  with  Roblot,  and  order  her  to 
leave  the  house.  Gerard  arrives,  and  learns  that  Adrienne  has 
departed,  and  that  the  reason  for  her  dismissal  has  been  a  plot 
instigated  by  Duval.  Heaping  vulgar  reproaches  upon  his  family, 
he  vows  to  fetch  her  back,  and  the  truth  of  his  terrible  passion 
dawns  upon  his  wife.  She  realizes  now  that  the  girl  must  be  taken 
into  her  confidence.  Adrienne  returns,  and  confesses  to  Mme 
Gerard  how  her  employer's  attentions  have  been  directed  towards 
her  for  eight  years,  how  he  has  made  certain  advances  to  her,  and  how 
she  has  returned  his  love.  She  confesses  moreover  that  her  love 
amounts  to  a  dangerous  passion  which  she  may  be  able  to  combat 
within  his  home,  and  begs  that  she  may  be  allowed  to  stay  only 
until  peace  is  restored,  promising  to  aid  Mme  Gerard  in  bringing  to 
his  senses  the  head  of  the  family,  and  in  breaking  off  the  marriage 
of  Caroline  to  her  brother.  Adrienne  tries  with  all  sincerity  to 
prevent  Gerard  from  insisting  upon  this  alliance,  but  she  fails. 
Whereupon  Mme  Gerard,  imagining  that  she  has  been  deceitful, 
seeks  to  harm  her  again,  and  to  excite  the  jealousy  of  the  husband. 
Gerard's  fury  is  consequently  aroused  to  white  heat:  he  pretends  to 
have  failed  in  business,  to  have  ruined  his  firm,  urging  Roblot  again 
to  sue  for  the  hand  of  the  girl  merely  to  observe  the  effect  which 
these  things  may  have  upon  her.  Adrienne,  discovering  this  treach- 
ery, is  still  generous,  returning  to  Gerard  all  the  money  that  he  has 


40  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

given  her,  and  seeking  again  to  fulfill  her  promises  to  Mme 
Gerard.  Gaining  Gerard's  consent  to  the  marriage  of  Caroline 
and  her  lover  Hippolyte,  she  excuses  his  offensive  suspicion  against 
her,  and  begs  him  to  remain  a  dutiful  father.  In  the  meanwhile, 
other  more  serious  events  have  been  taking  place.  Caroline,  despond- 
ent over  the  outcome  of  her  love-affair,  attempts  to  end  her  life 
with  poison,  while  Anna,  Gerard's  younger  daughter,  determines  to 
sacrifice  herself  in  order  to  save  her  mother  and  sister  from  ruin. 
She  attempts  to  poison  Adrienne  with  arsenic.  The  plot  fails,  and 
Gerard  becomes  aware  of  what  has  occurred.  Assuming  the  role  of 
judge,  he  calls  together  his  family,  and  discovers  to  what  a  terrible 
pass  his  illicit  love  has  brought  him.  With  terrific  force  the  truth 
bursts  upon  him,  and  with  it  his  reason  flees.  But  the  sight  of  her 
demented  lover  deprives  Adrienne  as  well  of  her  reason,  and  we 
finally  see  the  two  unfortunate  creatures  housed  under  the  same 
roof,  meeting  each  other  daily,  and  talking  together  of  their  former 
love  without  a  sign  of  mutual  recognition.  Before  a  board  appointed 
to  look  into  their  affairs,  they  are  brought  together,  Adrienne  piti- 
fully dressed  as  a  bride  and  calling  incessantly  for  her  lover;  Gerard 
dressed  in  the  finery  of  a  young  gallant.  Caroline,  seeing  what 
proofs  of  love  and  self-denial  Adrienne's  brother  has  given  her,  and 
renounced  by  the  faithless  Hippolyte,  consents  to  become  his  wife. 
With  this  scene  the  sombre  drama  closes,  and  the  unhappy  family 
is  left  to  piece  together  the  wreck  which  the  ravages  of  passion  have 
left  within  it. 


A  reading  of  the  play  reveals  the  fact  that  the  action  is  exceedingly 
complicated  and,  at  times,  obscure.  The  author  has  not  brought 
into  relief  the  successive  steps  of  his  intrigue,  and  the  play  is  over- 
loaded with  scenes  which  are  not  only  too  long,  but  which  follow  one 
another  with  little  natural  sequence.  The  action,  moreover,  is 
complicated  by  a  series  of  conspiracies  and  misunderstandings. 
First,  Mme  Gerard  and  her  brother  conspire  to  expel  Adrienne  from 
the  home;  later  Mme  Gerard  sees  the  necessity  of  forming  an  alliance 
with  the  girl,  and  begs  her  to  return.  Finally,  when  Adrienne's 
sincere  endeavors  to  restore  peace  have  failed,  Mme  Gerard  tries 
again  to  harm  her.  These  are  the  three  successive  steps  which 
Balzac  has  sought  to  put  into  action,  but  a  host  of  secondary  compli- 
cations intervene.    Gerard  is  deceived  about  the  reason  for  Adrienne's 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORS  DE  BALZAC  41 

departure  from  his  home;  he  is  unable  to  assure  himself  of  her  honesty 
even  after  her  return.  His  wife's  pretended  affection  for  the  girl 
deceives  him,  as  well  as  Adrienne's  sincere  efforts  to  have  him  consent 
to  Caroline's  marriage  to  Hippolyte.  These  misunderstandings 
succeed  one  another  with  little  logical  order,  and  serve  to  befog  the 
action  to  a  serious  extent.  The  whole  of  the  long  second  act  is  taken 
up  with  Gerard's  attempts  to  outwit  his  family,  closing  with  a  scene 
of  pure  "comedie  larmoyante"  between  the  two  daughters,  which 
adds  nothing  to  the  aclion..  In  the  third  act  further  awkward 
complications  arise  from  Gerard's  pretended  failure,  while  the 
opening  of  the  fourth  act  announces  his  departure,  a  scene  for  which 
the  way  has  not  been  prepared.  Also,  in  this  act  the  element  of 
chance  intervenes  in  a  most  startling  manner,  with  no  semblance  of 
reality.  Just  at  the  moment  when  Duval  declares  that  Caroline 
has  stolen  arsenic  from  his  shop,  with  the  intention  of  killing  herself, 
a  dog  eats  the  poisoned  soup  prepared  for  Adrienne  by  Anna!  The 
fifth  act  is  misplaced,  since  it  has  little  logical  connection  with  the 
preceding  action.  The  double  catastrophe  is  not  prepared,  and  is 
merely  a  violent  theatrical  device  for  bringing  the  action  to  a  close. ^ 

The  unity  of  composition  is  furthermore  disturbed  by  long  mono- 
logues and  unnecessary  tirades  which  retard  the  action:  for  example, 
Gerard's  lengthy  opening  monologue  at  the  beginning  of  the  second 
act,  and  his  review  of  his  life  in  the  fourth  act. 

Throughout  the  play  we  are  struck  by  the  evidences  of  careless 
work  and  the  lack  of  dramatic  technique.  The  action  develops 
haltingly,  and  is  overburdened  with  useless  scenes.  The  conclusion, 
which  should  be  the  logical  working  out  and  summing  up  of  the 
different  threads  of  the  action,  is  utterly  without  significance.  The 
most  fundamental  of  all  theatrical  gifts — the  concentration  of 
effect  in  scenes  which  follow  in  logical  progression — Balzac  did  not 
possess  at  the  time  of  the  composition  of  this  play. 


In  the  characters  which  Balzac  has  introduced  into  this  dramatic 
frame  we  have  the  manifestations  of  a  powerful  imagination  un- 
bridled, the  same  imagination  which  led  the  novelist  at  times  to 
abuse  reality,  and  to  produce  such  excessive  types  as  are  to  be  found 
in  le  Pere  Goriot  or  la  Cousine  Bette.     Tolerated  in  the  novel,  where 

*  Jules  Claretie,  in  le  Temps,  March  29,  1907,  suggests  that  this  final  "mad  scene" 
was  written,  in  part,  at  least,  by  Lassailly. 


42  THE  DRAMA  OF  H0N0K.6  DE  BALZAC 

they  may  develop  slowly,  and  where  the  author  may  devote  pages 
to  personal  description,  these  characters  are  wholly  inadmissible  on 
the  stage.     Balzac  was  no  doubt  aware  of  the  poverty  of  analysis  in 
this  play  when,  in  writing  to  Mme  Hanska,  who  had  criticized  his 
I  drama  rather  harshly,  he  stated  that   "peut-etre  les  personnages 
\  manquent-ils  de  certaines  conditions  pour  devenir  types."® 
^      Balzac  has  grouped  his  personages  into  two  opposing  camps: 
the  one,  Gerard's  family — his  wife  and  daughters,  and  his  wife^s 
brother — and   the  other,    Gerard  himself  and  Adrienne.     In  this 
latter  group  Adrienne's  brother  may  also  be  placed,  since  the  efforts 
of  Mme  Gerard  to  break  off  his  attachment  for  her  daughter  consti- 
tute one  of  the  threads  of  the  action. 

Let  us  examine  first  the  Gerard  family.  Mme  Gerard  and  her 
daughter  Caroline  are  gloomy,  colorless  creatures,  hopelessly  under 
the  domination  of  Gerard,  whose  will  they  have  learned  to  obey. 
Caroline  later  shifts  from  the  pale,  melancholy  girl,  bereft  of  the  man 
she  loves,  and  attempting  to  take  her  own  life,  to  a  modest  little  miss, 
resigning  herself  eventually  to  the  man  who  has  shown  his  devotion 
to  her  throughout.  With  Anna,  the  younger  daughter,  it  is  different. 
She  is  a  precocious  woman  of  sixteen!  "Je  ne  suis  comme  ma 
soeur  qui  pleure  et  obeit,  J'ai  mes  idees,"  she  declares.^®  It  has 
been  her  unhappy  lot  to  observe  the  ignominy  and  danger  of 
her  father's  senile  passion,  and  she  determines  to  outwit  Adrienne 
for  the  sake  of  her  mother  and  sister.  Balzac  has  made  of  Anna  the 
best  character  in  the  play.  She  is  no  longer  the  "jeune  fille  de 
convention,"  but  a  woman  of  spirit  and  resolution.  She  is  a  cham- 
pion of  woman's  rights,  who  talks  with  the  experience  of  a  mature 
person.  To  save  her  sister  from  a  man  she  does  not  love,  Anna  offers 
to  marry  him  instead. 

Anna:  Mon  pere,  une  jeune  fille  peut-elle  s'offrir  elle-mSme  en  mariage  ^  un 
homme? 

Girard:    Ce  n'est  pas  I'usage. 

Anna:  H6  bien,  proposez-moi  vous-m6me  a  monsieur.  Ma  soeur  croit  qu'il  faut 
bien  aimer  un  homme  pour  I'^pouser;  moi,  je  crois  que  I'amour  nous  rend  tres  mal- 
heureux,  et  comme  vous  avez  dit  que  le  mariage  n'etait  pas  fond6  sur  la  passion,  le 
bonheur  conjugal  de  monsieur  reposerait  sur  des  bases  solides. 

Girard:    Est-ce  que  tu  es  en  6tat  de  juger  le  mariage? 

Anna:  Le  mariage!    Mais  c'est  un  sacrement  institu6  pour  se  tourmenter." 

»  LEt.,  Vol.  I,  p.  506.     February  12,  1839. 

*»  Act  I,  scene  8. 

"  Act  III,  scene  14.  Compare,  la  Peau  de  chagrin:  "Le  mariage  est  un  sacre- 
ment en  vertu  duquel  nous  ne  nous  conmiuniquons  que  des  chagrins." — (Euvres,  Vol. 
XV,  p.  135. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  43 

She  possesses  a  sharp  wit,  and  is  quite  capable  of  dealing  with  her 
father.  When  Gerard  argues  with  Caroline  that  intellect  is  the  only 
stable  quality  on  which  to  base  one's  affections,  Anna  replies:  "Papa, 
si  votre  systeme  prend,  les  sots  resteront  done  sans  femmes.  Pauvres 
sots!"^^     On  men  in  general  she  delivers  the  following  opinion. 

Je  les  trouve  tous  laids,  de  gros  favoris  noirs,  des  barbes  dures,  des  teints  a  faire 
peur!  Quand  ils  sont  jolis,  ils  nous  ressemblent,  et  ils  n'ont  alors  ni  esprit,  ni  capacite 
....  Vraiment  le  monde  est  a  refaire;  si  je  me  marie,  je  ne  veux  que  des  garfons, 
afin  de  ne  pas  avoir  I'ennui  des  gendres.^^ 

Where  Balzac  has  failed  in  this  character  is  in  the  exaggeration 
of  her  violent  loves  and  hates :  they  are  too  apparent  and  too  melo- 
dramatic. In  spite  of  these  unnatural  qualities,  however,  this 
figure  of  a  mature,  firm  and  keen-minded  girl  remains  by  far  the 
best  creation  in  the  play.  i 

In  Roblot  Balzac  has  instilled  something  of  his  real  fervor  for 
gold:  this  old  cashier,  whose  whole  life  has  been  spent  pouring  over 
columns  of  figures  and  counting  money,  so  that  his  love-making 
even  is  mixed  with  percentages.  The  figure  is  realistic,  but  episodic, 
and  is  overshadowed  by  grosser  and  more  romantic  types  of  exagger- 
ated passion  found  in  the  principal  roles.  In  like  manner,  Duval, 
the  richest  druggist  in  the  Rue  des  Lombards,  is  neatly  drawn,  but 
remains  in  the  background.  Adrienne's  brother,  who  is  meant  to 
fill  an  important  r61e  in  the  action,  is  but  feebly  conceived;  a  character 
that  is  sympathetic  and  romantic,  "un  avocat  qui  ne  plaide  que 
selon  ses  convictions,  dont  la  conduite  est  irreprochable,"^^*  who 
later  becomes  a  successful  lawyer,  and  is  declared  to  be  "le  plus  grand 
avocat  du  jeune  barreau,"  a  living  representative  of  the  rising 
democracy,  sincere,  honest  and  dignified. 

When  we  come  to  study  the  father  of  this  unhappy  family,  we 
are  struck  first  of  all  by  the  fact  that  thej^type  has  appeared  at 
various  times  in  Balzac's  work,  with  varying  degrees  of  emphasis 
laid  upon  the  master-passion.  It  is  sufficient  to  recall  from  the 
Human  Comedy  such  figures  as  Jean- Jacques  Rouget,  Nucingen  or 
Baron  Hulot.  Gerard  is  but  another  one  of  these  monomaniacs, 
devoured  by  a  senile  passion.  A  clever  and  successful  business  man, 
ambitious  and  thrifty,  he  has  met,  at  a  time  of  life  when  the  last 

^2  Act  III,  scene  8. 
13  Act  III,  scene  14. 
"a  Act  II,  scene  5. 


44  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

flame  of  love  is  burning,  a  woman  whose  charms  turn  him  from  his 
family,  and  gradually  lead  him  to  ruin : 

A  la  porte  de  I'enfer  terrestre  des  gens  passionn6s,  et  qui  s'appelle  la  vieillesse,  a 
surgi  cette  jeune  fille.** 

He  forgets  his  duties  as  husband,  he  is  ready  to  sacrifice  his  daughter's 
happiness,  he  can  think  of  nothing  but  this  passion.  The  prudent 
business  man  who  has  amassed  a  fortune  becomes  careless  in  his 
affairs;  the  devoted  father  forgets  his  children,  while  his  violence 
towards  his  wife  is  the  common  talk  of  the  servants.  Vice  turns  to 
j  an  obsession,  until  the  old  man  is  torn  by  jealousy  and  tortured  by 
'  fear  of  infidelity  when  he  is  away  from  Adrienne.  To  please  her,  he 
would  even  desert  his  home. 

If  we  compare  this  stage  figure  for  a  moment  with  a  similar 
character  later  conceived  by  Balzac  for  the  Human  Comedy,  the 
Baron  Hulot  of  la  Cousine  Bette,  we  note  certain  differences,  and  that, 
whereas  the  character  in  the  novel  lives  and  impresses  itself  upon 
our  memories  by  the  sheer  magnitude  of  its  proportions,  the  stage 
figure  is  feeble  and  unconvincing.  Hulot  is  perhaps  one  of  the 
most  excessive  figures  that  Balzac  has  drawn;  here  we  have  a  striking 
example  of  a  powerful  imagination  at  work,  menacing  reality.  But 
Hulot,  the  creation  of  this  excessive  imagination,  ceases  to  be  an 
individual,  and  remains  rather  a  type,  a  personification  of  the  sex 
appetite.  In  the  novel,  the  author  has  had  room  to  expand  the 
character.  At  the  outset,  we  have  a  splendid  physical  portrait  of 
the  aged  gallant;  we  see  him  in  the  midst  of  his  friends  and  his 
^  !  family,  dignified  and  respected,  while  the  poisonous  germ  of  lust 
,J^  '  begins  slowly  to  expand,  destroying  fortune  and  honor.  We  are  able 
to  see  the  passion  develop  by  successive  stages:  it  increases,  degree 
by  degree,  until  it  becomes  overwhelming  in  its  force.  Under  its 
weight  the  character  assumes  colossal  proportions,  until  we  finally 
cease  to  look  upon  Hulot  as  a  man,  but  as  a  symbol  of  physical  and 
moral  decrepitude. 

When  placed  upon  the  stage,  where  the  presentation  must  be 

i  \  entrusted  to  spoken  dialogue  and  to  an  actor's  individual  art,  such 

-  \  a  figure  is  much  less  convincing.     The  dramatist  can  no  longer  rely 

U  I  upon  physical  and  psychological  description;  his  character  must  live 

by  what  he  says  and  does.     We  are  concerned  here  with  the  living, 

acting  individual,  but  Gerard's  passion  has  attained  heroic  propor- 

1*  Act  IV,  scene  2. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  45 

tions,  and  in  the  crude  glare  of  the  footlights  it  appears  ridiculous. 
Balzac  has  dwelt  with  melodramatic  insistence  upon  the  brutally 
pathetic,  giving  to  his  hero  a  tearful  language  and  violent  gestures: 

Dans  la  jeunesse,  nous  aimons  avec  notre  force  qui  va  diminuant;  mais,  k  mon 
kge,  on  aime  avec  la  faiblesse  qui  va  croissant;  aussi  la  vie  me  parait-elle  impossible 
sanselle.  .  .  .  lis  sont  tous  contre  elle,  ils  veulent  I'^prouver.  .  .  .  Oh!  laches!  Et  toi 
aussi!  Mais  si  elle  triomphe,  ils  sont  perdus;  et  si  elle  succombe,  je  deviendrai.  .  .  fou 
peut-6tre.^^ 

Gerard,  as  passionate  lover,  as  self-appointed  judge  of  his  family,  as 
maundering  idiot,  is  created  with  the  express  desire  of  producing 
physical  horror  and  repulsion,  and  with  little  care  for  psychological 
exactitude.  The  conception  of  the  character  is  admissible  and  even 
interesting.  A  senile  and  jealous  passion  which  degrades  an  honor- 
able man  unhappily  finds  correspondence  in  reality.  Balzac  knew 
how  to  present  such  a  character  in  his  novels;  he  did  not  know  how  to 
adapt  it  to  the  stage.  Where  he  has  failed  is  in  his  presentation, 
which  is  awkward,  and  renders  the  character  ridiculous. 

Adrienne  Guerin,  who  passes  in  and  out  the  Gerard  household 
with  the  familiarity  of  one  of  the  family,  reserved  and  modest  in 
manner,  thoughtful  to  the  extent  of  knowing  the  individual  tastes 
of  each  of  its  members,  is  also  a  figure  of  the  melodrama.  The  power 
of  her  passion  has  lifted  her  to  the  sphere  of  the  romantic  heroines, 
with  no  trait  to  distinguish  her  from  the  thousands  of  unfortunate 
women  who  have  made  tender-hearted  spectators  weep  in  the  past. 
There  is  nothing  to  distinguish  the  declaration  of  passion  which 
Adrienne  makes  to  her  lover's  wife  from  manifold  similar  avowals: 

Mais,  madame,  ici  je  suis  forte,  ici  je  puis  r6sister,  ici  je  puis  vous  rendre  mille 
services,  emp^cher  des  malheurs,  de  grands  malheurs!  filoignez-moi,  nous  sommes 
tous  perdus!  J'ai  bien  pens6  a  fuir  par  amour  pour  lui;  mais  il  serait  venu  me  chercher 
au  fond  de  rAm6rique.    Si  je  reste  en  France,  il  ferait  des  folies!  etc.,  etc.*' 

Adrienne,  to  escape  her  lover,  would  flee  to  America,  a  place  dear 
to  the  heart  of  the  melodrama tist;  America,  the  refuge  of  the  "gens 
k  passion,"  of  the  "revokes,"  of  all  those  who  seek  to  avoid  the 
constraining  influence  of  society! 

Adrienne  is  also  generous-hearted,  and  it  is  by  means  of  generosity 
that  she  seeks  to  purify  her  passion.     Her  struggles  are  depicted 

^  Act  IV,  scene  2. 
*"  Act  III,  scene  4. 


46  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

with  the  sole  purpose  of  making  a  boulevard  audience  weep.  In  one 
of  her  romantic  outbursts  she  cries  to  Mme  Gerard: 

Inf^me,  je  vous  aurais  ruin6e.  Vous  ne  savez  pas,  Madame,  jusqu'o^  va  cette 
passion;  elle  s'agrandit  de  toute  la  faiblesse  qui  de  jour  en  jour  crolt  chez  lui.  Je 
n'envisage  pas  I'avenir  sans  effroi.  J'aime,  je  combats!  Mais  c'est  tout  ce  que 
peuvent  demander  le  monde  et  Dieu." 

When  she  learns  of  Gerard's  pretended  failure,  and  believes  him 
generous  in  offering  Roblot  to  her,  she  exclaims,  almost  in  Dona 
Sol's  very  language:  "Quand  une  femme  aime  un  bandit,  elle  va 
dans  les  cavernes!"^^  Generosity,  she  cries,  is  "la  premiere  vertu 
des  hommes  envers  les  femmes."^® 

In  February  of  1837,  Balzac  writes  the  following  interesting  lines 
to  Mme  Hanska: 

Je  fais  en  ce  moment  avec  fureur  une  piece  de  th6itre,  car  1^  est  mon  salut.  II 
faut  vivre  du  theatre  et  de  ma  prose  concurremment.  Elle  s'appelle:  la  Premiere  Demoi- 
selle. Je  I'ai  choisie,  pour  mon  d6but,  parce  qu'elle  est  entierement  bourgeoise. 
Figurez-vous  une  maison  de  la  rue  Saint-Denis,  comme  la  Maison  du  Chat  qui  pelote, 
o^  je  mettrai  un  int6r^t  dramatique  et  tragique  d'une  extreme  violence.  Personne 
n'a  encore  pens6  k  mettre  a  la  scene  I'adultere  du  mari,  et  ma  pi^ce  est  basee  sur  cette 
grave  affaire  de  notre  civilization  moderne.  Sa  maitresse  est  dans  la  maison.  Per- 
sonne n'a  encore  song6  a  faire  un  Tartufe  femelle,  et  sa  maitresse  sera  Tartufe  en 
jupons;  mais  on  concevra  bien  plus  I'empire  de  la  premiere  demoiselle  sur  le  maitre, 
qu'on  ne  congoit  celui  de  Tartufe  sur  Orgon,  car  les  moyens  de  domination  sont  bien 
plus  naturels  et  compr6hensibles. 

En  regard  de  ces  deux  figures  passionnees,  il  y  aura  une  mere  opprimee,  et  deux 
filles  6galement  victimes  de  la  tyrannie  perfide  de  la  premiere  demoiselle.  L'ainde 
croit  qu'il  faut  cajoler  la  premiere  demoiselle,  qui  a  son  parti  dans  la  maison,  car  le 
caissier  I'aime  sincerement.  La  tyrannie  est  si  odieuse  aux  filles  et  k  la  mere,  que  la 
plus  jeune  des  filles,  partant  d'un  principe  d'heroisme,  veut  delivrer  sa  famille  de  cette 
peste  en  s'immolant  elle-meme.  Elle  veut  I'empoisonner  et  rien  ne  I'arrete.  Le 
coup  manque,  mais  le  pere,  qui  a  vu  ^  quelles  extr^mites  se  portent  ses  enfants, 
devine  que  la  premiere  demoiselle  ne  peut  vivre  sous  son  toit,  qu'apres  cette  tentative 
tout  lien  d'interieur  est  rompu.  II  la  renvoie;  mais,  au  cinquieme  acte,  il  lui  est  si 
impossible  de  vivre  sans  cette  femme,  qu'il  prend  une  portion  de  sa  fortune,  laisse  le 
reste  k  sa  femme  et  s'enfuit  avec  la  Premiere  Demoiselle  en  Am4rique. 

Voil^  le  gros  de  ma  piece;  je  ne  vous  parle  pas  des  details  qui  sont  aussi  originaux 
que  le  sont  les  caracteres,  qui  n'ont  ete,  k  mon  avis,  pris  pour  aucune  piece.  II  y  a  la 
scdne  du  jugement  de  la  fille  en  famille;  il  y  a  la  scene  de  separation,  etc.  .  .  .2° 

"  Act  ni,  scene  4. 

*•  Act  IV,  scene  4. 

»•  Act  I,  scene  12. 

"  LEL,  Vol.  I,  pp.  381,  382.    February  12,  1837. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORlfe  DE  BALZAC  47 

This  letter  is  instructive,  for  it  displays  to  us  a  character  very 
difiFerent  from  the  one  realized  in  the  play.  In  this  plan  Balzac 
supposes  his  heroine  to  be  a  female  Tartuffe,  a  hypocritical  and  less 
generous  character  than  the  one  conceived  later.  It  is  apparent 
that  he  has  gone  to  Tartuffe  for  his  heroine,  as  well  as  for  the  main 
outlines  of  his  plot.  The  situation  is  the  same  in  both  plays:  a 
bourgeois  family  into  which  an  impostor  has  entered,  and  whose 
happiness  is  being  sapped  out  and  destroyed  inch  by  inch.  The 
head  of  the  family  in  each  case  brings  ruin  upon  his  home,  and 
in  both  plays  the  family  is  leagued  against  him  in  their  efforts  to  expel 
the  impostor.  Balzac,  moreover,  gives  to  Gerard  a  brother-in-law 
who  strives  to  bring  peace  into  the  chaotic  household,  corresponding 
to  Cleante  in  Moliere's  play.  As  Orgon's  maniacal  devotion  to  "le 
pauvre  homme,"  so  Adrienne's  name  is  constantly  on  Gerard's  lips. 
Like  Moliere,  Balzac  has  felt  the  necessity  of  introducing  a  few 
comic  scenes  in  the  midst  of  hi?  tragedy;  so  Victoire,  the  impudent 
and  observant  maid,  bears  a  certain  similarity  to  Dorine,  and  serves 
to  relieve  the  tragic  march  of  events.  Just  as  Orgon,  through 
his  blind  devotion  to  the  hypocrite,  obstructs  his  daughter's  wooing, 
so  Gerard  is  determined  to  marry  his  daughter  to  Adrienne's  brother. 
If  we  may  trust  Gerard  de  Nerval's  recollections  of  a  first  reading  of 
Balzac's  play,  in  the  original  version  Gerard's  old  mother  formed  an 
additional  member  of  the  family,  corresponding  to  Madame  Pernelle 
in  Tartuffe}^  Just  when  the  changes  in  the  conception  and  the 
action  of  Adrienne's  character  were  made  it  is  impossible  to  say. 
The  play  was  reworked  a  number  of  times.  When  the  young  poet, 
Lassailly,  went  to  Les  Jardies  to  collaborate  with  Balzac,  the  play 
was  entirely  rewritten.^^  It  was  probably  at  this  time  that  the  author 
idealized  his  female  Tartuffe,  and  purified  her  passion  through 
generosity,  unable  to  neglect  the  popular  call  of  theatre-goers  who 
demanded  romantic  heroines. 


Balzac  was  certainly  not  unaware  of  the  faults  of  his  play.  When 
the  manuscript  was  turned  over  to  Gustave  Planche  to  read,  the 
author  was  impressed  by  the  latter's  unfavorable  verdict: 

Planche  m'a  rapports  ma  piece.  II  la  trouve  au-dessus  de  tout  ce  qui  se  fait,  mais 
nous  sommes  du  meme  avis  sur  les  d^fauts.  Ramen^e  au  poiat  de  vue  de  I'art,  elle 
en  a  beaucoup.^ 

2^  See  supra,  p.  37,  note  3. 

^  Autour  de  Honore  de  Balzac,  p.  136. 

»  LEt.,  Vol.  I,  p.  509.    April  14,  1839. 


48  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

The  awkwardly  constructed  action  and  the  melodramatic  characters 
reflect  a  style  which  contains  many  defects.  The  principal  one  is 
obscurity:  the  characters  allude  to  things  which  the  audience  cannot 
possibly  know;  they  employ  hidden  meanings  so  that  the  spectator 
becomes  confused  in  his  attempt  to  follow  the  action.  The  second 
stylistic  fault  is  no  less  serious,  and  consists  in  the  unreality  of  the 
dialogue.  The  idealistic  ardor  of  the  characters  is  reflected  in  aU 
that  they  say,  and  they  speak  a  most  unnatural  language.  Some- 
times it  is  a  solemn  phrase  uttered  by  Gerard's  daughter:  "L'amour 
n'est  le  plus  beau  de  tous  les  sentiments  que  parce  qu'il  est  le  plus 
involontaire."^  Sometimes,  it  is  merely  an  inartistic  and  heavy 
metaphor:  "Quand  on  se  sent  la  t^te  dans  les  cieux,  la  terre  fait  mal 
aux  pieds."^*  Adrienne  constantly  expresses  herself  in  affected 
phrases  which  have  little  relation  to  reality.  For  example,  take 
the  following  Unes  addressed  to  Mme  Gerard: 

Ici,  dans  le  sanctuaire  domestique,  j'ai  su  purifier  un  amour  qui  vous  blessait. 
II  y  a  de  la  grandeur  assez  pour  aimer  purement;  aussi,  les  soupgons  Taigrissent-ils 4 
un  point  oA  il  ne  se  connait  plus.  .  .  .  H  veut  le  salaire  de  la  plus  coAteuse  des  vertus 
....  * 

Roblot,  talking  with  the  cook,  speaks  as  follows: 

Ordinairement,  ma  chere,  les  bienfaiteurs  exploitent  leurs  obliges  ou  les  obliges 
deviennent  les  tyrans  de  leurs  bienfaiteurs.'^ 

Gerard  either  gives  vent  to  long  monologues  which  retard  the  action 
or  employs  such  trite  and  sententious  remarks  as  the  following: 
"Le  hasard  est  le  courtisan  de  la  jeunesse."^^  Usually,  the  wit  is 
of  a  cheap  variety,  even  if  sometimes  characterstic  of  the  speaker's 
vulgarity.  "Je  ne  puis  pas  voir  pleurer  une  femme!  fa  trouble 
ma  digestion, "2^  says  the  uncle,  Duval.  Roblot  figures  his  passion 
as  follows:  "Apres  tout,  I'amour  est  une  addition,  le  mariage  une 
multiplication,  et  Tarithmetique  fait  plus  de  mariages  que  I'amour 
n'en  defait.''^"     The  pathetic  is  also  stressed  to  the  utmost,  and  at 

*•  Act  II,  scene  10.  Compare,  C6sar  Birotteau:  "Quelques  moralistes  pensent  que 
I'amour  est  la  passion  la  plus  involontaire,  la  plus  d6sint6ressee,  la  moins  calculatrice 
de  toutes." 

*"  Act  III,  scene  4. 
"  Act  I,  scene  1. 
"  Act  II,  scene  1. 
"  Act  II,  scene  9. 
"  Act  I.  scene  2. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  49 

times  all  reality  vanishes  before  the  violence  of  tumultuous  scenes: 
broken  bits  of  dialogue,  entreaties,  tears,  repetitions  of  the  words 
''crime"  and  "poison." 

No  word  of  praise  can  be  spoken  for  the  style  of  this  play.  It 
is  characterized  by  obscurity  and  banality,  the  faults  of  many  of 
the  popular  dramatists  of  Balzac's  day. 


Gautier,  writing  of  Balzac's  £.cole  des  menages  in  la  Presse* 
March  11,  1839,  concludes  his  article  with  the  following  words: 

Nous  sommes  chann^s  que  M.  de  Balzac  aborde  enfin  le  th64tre.  Depuis  long- 
temps  nous  demandons  pourquoi  la  scene  est  abandonn6e  aux  plates  m6diocrit^s.  Le 
plaisir  du  theatre  n'existe  pas  a  Paris  pour  les  gens  qui  ont  fait  leurs  Etudes  et  savent 
leur  langue.  Des  esprits  delicats  ne  sauraient  prendre  aucun  int^ret  aux  productions 
sans  esprit,  sans  etude  et  sans  style  des  fournisseurs  de  la  denr^e  dramatique.  Que 
M.  Alfred  de  Musset,  le  delicieux  auteur  des  Caprices  de  Marianne  et  le  poete  de 
Lorenzaccio;  que  M€ry,  ce  volcan  de  saillies  tou jours  en  eruption;  que  M6rim6e,  qui  a 
fait  le  theatre  de  Clara  Gazul\  que  Janin,  cet  esprit  d'un  enjouement  si  facile,  et  d'une 
plaisanterie  si  fine  et  si  legere;  que  George  Sand,  cette  grande  passion,  s'emparent  de  la 
scene,  et  ne  permettent  plus  aux  barbares  de  s'y  montrer!  Ce  sera  U  un  beau  et 
noble  spectacle,  et  nous  louons  M.  de  Balzac  d'avoir  pris  I'initiative. 

Briefly,  what  was  the  condition  of  the  theatre  at  the  moment  Balzac 
was  writing  his  £.cole  des  menages}  The  Monarchy  of  July  had  had 
its  important  effects  upon  literature  as  well  as  upon  politics,  and  the 
stage  had  become  a  potent  means  for  the  diffusion  of  ideas.  All 
the  important  political  agitations  were  reflected  in  the  plays  of  the 
time.  Hosts  of  playwrights  with  social  and  humanitarian  theories 
were  filling  the  theatres  with  the  most  mediocre  of  productions — 
military  travesties  and  vaudevilles,  cheap  melodramas  which  reflected 
the  passing  events.  An  author  who  wrote  under  the  sinister  pseudo- 
nym of  Samson  offered  to  the  public  a  spectacle  of  horrors  called 
le  Bourreau.  Melodramas,  such  as  Robert  Macaire,  which  rendered 
crime  ludicrous  and  made  a  cynical  appeal  to  the  most  depraved 
tastes,  were  much  in  vogue.  It  was  also  the  age  of  Soulie's  Diane  de 
Chivry  and  le  Proscrit,  "machines  electriques,  destinees  a  donner 
d'effroyables  secousses  aux  spectateurs;"^^  of  historical  travesties 
such  as  Pyat's  Ango.  Liberty  had  given  away  to  licence,  and 
dramatic  authors  were  seeking  to  please  the  crudest  of  public  tastes: 

Les  trois  traits  dominants  de  cette  litterature  dramatique  courante  furent  un 
penchant  marque  k  renverser  sur  la  scene  la  hierarchie  sociale,  en  donnant  I'avantage 

^'  Alfred  Nettement,  Histoire  de  la  litterature  franqaise  sous  le  gouvernement  de 
Juillet,    1876.    Vol.  II,  p.  181. 


50  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

aux  demi^res  classes  sur  les  premieres;  une  hardiesse  cynique  a  tout  oser,  pour  r^veiller 
les  sens  du  public  assoupis  et  biases  a  la  suite  de  tant  d'exces  et  de  scandales,  et  une 
tendence  gdn^rale  a  mettre  sur  le  pavois  I'habilete  souillee,  et  a  preferer  le  bien-jou6  ai 
la  vertu.** 

So  Alfred  Nettement,  a  sound  critic  of  the  day,  describes  the  con- 
ditions. During  all  this  period,  it  must  be  remembered,  romanticism 
and  the  "drames  de  cape  et  d'epee"  were  still  holding  the  boards. 
Hugo,  with  his  national  and  social  mission,  his  definite  dramatic  sys- 
tem and  moral  intent,  his  "idees  severes,"  his  poetic  fancies  and 
lyric  outbursts,  was  still  maintaining  a  vogue.  Dumas,  moreover, 
with  his  pageants  and  historical  dramas,  had  not  yet  exhausted  his 
talents.  But,  towards  1838,  lyricism  began  to  decline,  and  that 
same  year  Ruy  Bias  was  received  with  coldness,  while  the  Renais- 
sance theatre  began  to  search  for  new  material. 

Something  has  already  been  said  of  Balzac's  ideas  of  the  con- 
temporary stage.  He  was  a  bitter  enemy  of  the  encroaching  vaude- 
ville; he  scorned  the  wornout  tricks  of  the  romantic  school,  and  the 
calumnies  expressed  under  the  guise  of  historical  dramas.  He  voiced 
repeatedly  the  need  of  "emotions  vraies  et  fortes, "^^  of  depicting 
with  fearlessness  the  truth  upon  the  stage.  Let  us  see  what  he  has 
proposed  in  this  first  drama. 

Balzac  calls  his  first  play  "une  drame  de  la  vie  bourgeoise."^ 
He  is  in  reality  continuing  the  traditions  already  laid  down  by 
Diderot  in  his  Fils  naturel  and  his  P^re  de  famille:  he  is  endeavoring 
to  present  a  picture  of  middle-class  family  life  without  artistic 
formalism,  and  to  preach  a  moral  lesson.  Following  the  tradition 
of  the  "tragedie  bourgeoise,"  sentimentalism  plays  a  large  role.  The 
smallest  of  events  are  made  tragic,  while  the  most  tragic  of  human 
consequences  are  multiplied  without  number.  What  is  the  moral 
lesson  which  Balzac  wishes  to  preach?  He  proposes  to  depict  what 
he  considers  the  most  grievous  phase  of  modern  life:  marriage.^^ 
Marriage  is  not  made  the  turning-point  of  the  drama,  but  the  central 
note  about  which  the  action  revolves :  Gerard  is  unhappily  married, 
and  wishes  to  force  an  unhappy  alliance  upon  his  daughter: 

Madame,  la  maniere  dont  on  se  marie  est  un  des  malheurs  de  notre  temps.  Le 
mariage  n'est  pas  fond6  sur  la  passion  .  .  .  mais  sur  la  famille.^ 

«/Wi.,p.  180. 

^  Portraits  et  critique  littSraire,  (Euvres,  Vol.  XXII,  p.  19. 

34  LEt.,  Vol.  I,  p.  506.     February  12,  1839. 

^Ibid. 

^  Act  III,  scene  8. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  51 

So  Gerard  addresses  his  wife.  He  seeks  to  give  his  daughter  to  a 
man  whom  she  does  not  love.  To  save  her  sister  from  the  evil 
consequences  of  this  union,  the  younger  daughter  would  commit  a 
crime.  The  play  is  the  study  of  the  ravages  of  passion  which  over- 
take a  man  past  middle  life,  the  father  of  a  family.  It  is  the  author's 
desire  to  handle  with  fearlessness  and  truth  this  question.  "Pour 
lacher  le  vrai  devant  un  public  blase,  il  faut  du  courage,""  he  writes 
to  Pereme  during  the  negotiations  for  the  acceptance  of  the  play. 
Balzac's  theory  is  excellent,  and  he  has  set  out  to  accomplish  some- 
thing new.  Before  Augier,  he  preaches  the  thesis  of  respect  for 
family  ties;  before  the  younger  Dumas  he  condemns  adultery.  In 
certain  respects,  however,  the  play  approaches  the  romantic  drama 
rather  than  the  bourgeois  tragedy.  The  mingling  of  the  comic  with 
the  emotional,  the  awkward  unfolding  of  events,  the  insistence  upon 
a  master  passion,  the  pretentious  unreality  of  the  characters  and  the 
self-renunciation  of  the  heroine  which  purifies  her  in  the  eyes  of  the 
world,  are  all  elements  dear  to  the  hearts  of  the  Romantics.  The 
result  is  a  hybrid  production,  half-way  between  the  "piece  a  these" 
and  the  "piece  pathetique."  However  sincere  Balzac  may  have 
been  in  theory,  he  has  also  failed  to  make  his  thesis  clear.  His 
sympathy  is  divided  between  two  hostile  camps:  Gerard  and  his 
inamorata  are  made  to  suffer  as  well  as  his  family,  while  both  parties 
have  committed  serious  faults.  In  the  interest  of  his  thesis  the 
author  should  have  concentrated  his  sympathy  on  one  or  the  other 
side.     This  he  has  not  done,  and  the  moral  value  suffers  thereby. 

U&cole  des  menages,  from  the  point  of  view  of  construction  and 
character  study,  is  a  failure.  For  its  author  the  field  of  the  drama 
is  unfamiliar,  and  he  treads  over  it  with  no  light  step.  The  interest 
in  the  play  lies  solely  in  the  realistic  promise  which  Balzac,  successful] 
in  the  realm  of  the  novel,  makes  at  the  outset  of  his  dramatic  career  j 

''  Letter  dated  December  11,  1838.     Cited  in  Autour  de  Honori  de  Balzac,  p.  127. 


IV 

VAUTRIN 

Vautrin,  a  drama  in  five  acts,  was  represented  for  the  first  time 
at  the  Theatre  de  la  Porte-Saint-Martin  on  March  14th,  1840.  The 
play,  one  volume  in-8,  was  published  first  by  Delloye  and  Tresse 
without  the  preface,  which  appeared  two  months  later.  This  pref- 
ace, which  is  dated  May  1st,  1840,  was  heralded  by  the  following 
detachable  notice,  published  with  the  volume: 

M.  de  Balzac,  retenu  au  lit  par  une  indisposition  trSs-grave,  n'a  pu  ^crire  la 
preface  qui  devait  accompagner  sa  piece  de  Vautrin,  dont  les  representations  ont  €t€ 
arrdt6es  par  Tautorite. 

Cette  preface  paraltra  dds  que  la  sant6  de  I'auteur  lui  permettra  de  la  composer. 
Toutes  les  personnes  qui  auront  achet^  la  pr6sente  Edition  auront  droit  H  un  exem- 
plaire  de  ladite  preface,  qui  leur  sera  remis  en  6change  du  present  avis,  qu'il  est  facile 
de  detacher  de  ce  livre. 

BON  POUR  UN  EXEMPLAIRE  DE  LA  PRfiFACE  DE  VAUTRIN.^ 

Balzac  had  published  le  Pere  Goriot  in  1835.  Three  years  later 
he  had  again  reincarnated  his  Vautrin  in  la  Torpille}  During  all 
this  period  we  find  him  intensely  busy  with  scenic  projects.  The 
unsuccessful  outcome  of  VEcole  des  menages  and  its  withdrawal  from 
the  boards  of  the  Renaissance  theatre,  April  10th,  1839,  urged  the 
despondent  dramatist  to  the  fulfilment  of  another  theatrical  venture, 
this  time,  in  a  sort  of  desperation,  a  play  to  catch  the  public  favor. 
Frederick  Lemaitre  was  fresh  from  his  success  in  Robert  Macaire* 
The  public  had  read  and  was  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  Vautrin 
of  the  novels.  To  hear  their  applause,  to  put  them  in  direct  contact 
with  a  t3^e  they  already  knew,  to  reach  a  great  mass  of  people 
who  did  not  read,  to  solve  pressing  financial  needs — Vautrin  was  the 
great  adventure. 

Theophile  Gautier,  perhaps  with  certain  fantastic  exaggeration, 
recounts  how  the  drama  was  conceived: 

Un  mot  pressant  de  Balzac  nous  somma  un  jour  de  nous  rendre  k  I'instant  m6me 
rue  de  Richelieu,  104,  oil  il  avait  un  pied-a-terre  dans  la  maison  de  Buisson,  le  tailleur. 

— Enfin,  voila  le  Th6o!  s'ecria-t-il  en  nous  voyant.  Paresseux,  tardigrade,  unau, 
al,  d6p6chez-vous  done;  vous  devriez  6tre  ici  depuis  uneheure. — Je  lis  demain  h  Harel 
un  grand  drame  en  cinq  actes. 

*  Lovenjoul,  Histoire  des  oeuvres  de  Balzac,  pp.  221,  222. 

'  Title  under  which  the  first  part  of  les  Splendeurs  et  misires  des  courtisanes  appeared. 
'  Comedy  in  three  acts,  by  Benjamin,  Saint-Amand,  and  Maurice  Alhoy,  .played 
first  at  les  FoUes-Dramatiques,  June  14,  1834. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORj^  DE  BALZAC  53 

— Et  vous  d6sirez  avoir  notre  avis,  repondimes-nous  en  nous  6tablissant  dans  un 
fauteuil  comme  un  homme  qui  se  prepare  a  subir  une  longue  lecture. 

A  notre  attitude,  Balzac  devina  notre  pens6e,  et  il  nous  dit  de  Tair  le  plus  simple: 
"Le  drame  n'est  pas  fait." 

— Diable!  fis-je.    Et  bien,  il  faut  faire  remettre  la  lecture  k  six  semaines. 

— Non,  nous  allons  bdcler  le  dramorama,  pour  toucher  la  monnaie.  A  telle 
6poque  j'ai  une  6ch6ance  bien  chargee. 

— D'ici  k  demain,  c'est  impossible;  on  n'aurait  pas  le  temps  de  le  recopier. 

— Voici  comment  j'ai  arrange  la  chose.  Vous  ferez  un  acte,  Ourliac  un  autre, 
Laurent- Jan  le  troisieme,  de  Belloy  le  quatri^me,  moi  le  cinqui^me,  et  je  lirai  k  midi, 
comme  il  est  convenu.  Un  acte  de  drame  n'a  pas  plus  de  quatre  ou  cinq  cents  lignes; 
on  peut  faire  cinq  cents  lignes  de  dialogue  dans  sa  journ^e  et  dans  sa  nuit. 

— Contez-moi  le  sujet,  indiquez-moi  le  plan,  dessinez-moi  en  quelques  mots  les 
personnages,  et  je  vais  me  mettre  £l  I'oeuvre,  lui  r6pondis-je  passablement  effar6. 

— Ah!  s'6cria-t-il  avec  un  air  d'accablement  superbe  et  de  d6dain  magnifique, 
s'il  faut  vous  conterle  sujet,  nous  n'aurons  jamais  fini!  .  .  . 

D'apres  une  indication  breve  arrach6e  k  grand'peine,  nous  nous  mimes  k  brocher 
une  scene  dont  quelques  mots  seulement  sont  rest6s  dans  I'oeuvre  d6finitive,  qui  nc 
fut  pas  lue  le  lendemain,  comme  on  peut  bien  le  penser.  Nous  ignorons  ce  que  firent 
les  autres  collaborateurs;  mais  le  seul  qui  mit  s^rieusement  la  main  k  la  p4te,  ce  fut 
Laurent- Jan,  auquel  la  piece  est  d6diee.* 

This  statement  of  a  contemporary  and  a  friend  is  satisfactory 
proof  that  Balzac  was  aided  somewhat  in  the  composition  of  the  play 
by  Laurent- Jan  and  by  others.  Just  what  was  the  extent  of  this 
assistance  we  are  unable  to  judge.  However,  there  is  no  reason  to 
believe  with  M,  Gabriel  Ferry  that  Laurent- Jan  composed  the 
greater  part  of  the  play.^  Balzac  was  at  the  time  of  the  composition 
of  Vautrin  unfamiliar  with  the  exigencies  of  the  stage;  his  knowledge 
sj  of  plot  construction  and  the  handling  of  situations  was  limited. 
Gautier  tells  us  of  the  unusual  collaboration  that  his  friend  sought, 
and  that  Laurent-Jan  interested  himself  seriously  in  the  play.  It  is 
more  than  likely  that  Balzac  consulted  his  actor  friend  regarding  the 
arrangement  of  scenes,  the  situations,  the  comic  relief.  But  there 
is  every  reason  to  assume,  from  the  resemblances  between  Vautrin 
and  the  later  plays,  that  the  melodramatic  plot,  the  complex  situa- 
tions and  the  jeux  de  mots  are  the  work  of  Balzac.  The  author  him- 
self speaks  several  times  of  the  difficulties  he  has  encountered  in  the 

*  Portraits  contemporains,  1914,  pp.  119,  120. 

'  "Laurent- Jan  6crivit  la  plus  grande  partie  de  I'ouvrage;  il  ne  rcsta  que  quelques 
lignes  de  travail  de  Gautier." — Balzac  et  ses  amies,  p.  114. 

Ferry  is  here  following  the  statement  made  him  by  Adolphe  D'Ennery,  the  adapter 
of  Mercadet.  See  his  article,  Balzac  et  Adolphe  D'Ennery,  in  la  Revue  d'art  dramatique^ 
July  15,  1894. 


54  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORf  DE  BALZAC 

composition  of  the  play.  To  Mme  Hanska  he  writes  in  February  of 
1840: 

.  .  .  je  trouvais  ma  piece  stupide,  et  j'avais  raison.  Je  I'ai  recpmmenc6e  en 
entier  et  je  la  trouve  passable. 

Another  time  he  confesses  that  the  workmanship  is  quite  poor: 

.  .  .  ce  sera  tou jours  une  mechante  pi^ce.  J'ai  c6d€  au  d^sir  de  jeter  sur  la  scSne 
un  personnage  romanesque,  et  j'ai  eu  tort.' 

The  play  was  accepted  by  the  Porte-Saint-Martin,  and  on  October 
30th,  1839  the  author  writes  to  Mme  Hanska  that  it  has  been  turned 
over  to  the  actors.''  The  idea  of  dramatic  fame  from  this  play  was 
overshadowed  by  a  desire  for  financial  success: 

•  Jugez  quelles  seront  mes  angoisses  pendant  la  soiree  oil  Vauirin  sera  repr6sent6. 
Dans  cinq  heures  de  temps,  il  sera  decide  si  je  paie  ou  si  je  ne  paie  pas  mes  dettes.  .  .  . 
AUer  vous  voir  est  un  desir  constant  chez  moi;  mais  il  faut  pour  cela  ne  laisser  derriSre 
soi  ni  billets  i  payer,  ni  affaires,  ni  dettes,  ni  soucis  d'argent,  et  cela  repr6sente  au  moins 
soixante  mille  francs,  et  Vautrin  peut  les  donner  en  quatre  mois!^ 

The  first  performance  of  the  play  occurred  on  the  fourteenth  of 
March,  1840.  Balzac,  on  the  eve  of  the  event,  sent  the  following 
lines  to  Lamartine,  begging  him  to  be  present: 

Je  confois  parfaitement  que,  chez  vous,  I'homme  politique  absorbe  I'homme 
litteraire  a  ce  point  que  vous  ignoriez  ce  qui  se  passe  dans  un  petit  theatre  de  boulevard. 

J'aurais  done  I'honneur  de  vous  apprendre  que  je  fais  jouer  demain  un  drame  en 
cinq  actes  a  la  Porte-Saint-Martin. 

Si,  comme  je  I'espere,  je  tombe  de  bonne  heure,  je  m'empresserai  d'aller  demander 
k  votre  amitie  des  consolations  de  circonstance.' 

To  Gozlan  he  confides: 

Vous  verrez  une  chute  memorable.     J'ai  eu  tort  d'appeler  le  public,  je  crois. 

Morituri  te  salutant,  C(Bsar\^^ 

The  play  was  a  great  failure,  and  the  press  on  the  following  day 
was  exceedingly  hostile.  Jules  Janin,  writes  in  les  Dehats  of  March 
16th: 

Tout  manque,  I'esprit,  le  style,  le  langage,  I'invention,  le  sens  commun, 

and  he  closes  his  article  with  these  words: 

C'est  un  lamentable  chapitre  a  ajouter  aux  6garements  de  I'esprit  humain. 

«  LEL,  Vol.  I,  p.  529.     February,  1840. 

7/i>«i.,p.  521. 

» Ihid.,  p.  530.     February  10,  1840. 

•  Corr.,  p.  338. 

1°  Ihid.,  p.  339. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  55 

On  March  15th,  the  Minister  of  the  Interior,  charging  Balzac 
with  immorality,  forbade  further  performances  of  the  play."  We 
are  familiar  with  the  principal  cause  of  this  governmental  dis- 
pleasure. Frederick  Lemaitre,  who  played  the  r61e  of  Vautrin, 
appeared  in  the  fourth  act  of  the  play  attired  in  the  costume  of  a 
Mexican  general,  suggesting  unmistakably  the  figure  of  Louis- 
Philippe.  The  eldest  son  of  the  king  occupied  a  box,  and  left  the 
theatre  in  anger.  The  actor  was  greeted  with  hisses  and  loud 
laughter,  while  his  efforts  to  redeem  himself  by  making  his  lines 
ridiculous  were  ill-received.  Balzac,  disheartened  by  the  sad  out- 
come of  his  venture,  took  to  his  bed,  overwhelmed  by  physical 
exhaustion.  He  hastened  to  declare,  however,  that  the  evening  had 
been  a  financial  success,  and  that  he  had  desired  nothing  more.  He 
also  hinted  that  Lemaitre's  action  might  have  been  aimed  against 
Harel,  director  of  the  theatre,  whose  relations  with  the  actor  were 
strained  at  the  moment. ^^  Victor  Hugo  and  the  elder  Dumas  proved 
to  be  friends  in  the  time  of  need,  and  the  former  accompanied  Balzac 
to  the  Ministry  of  the  Interior  to  plead  his  cause.  Their  audience 
was  unfruitful.i^  Hugo's  kindness  the  author  of  Vautrin  later 
recognized  in  the  preface  to  his  play.  Dumas  also  wrote  a  most 
cordial  letter  to  Balzac,  offering  to  take  up  the  question  of  indem- 
nity for  him.^"*  While  the  unsuccessful  dramatist  was  still  ill,  the 
government  agreed  to  pay  him  several  thousand  francs  for  the 
injustice  that  he  had  suffered,  and  for  the  considerable  sum  that  he 
had  lost  by  his  play.  Balzac  refused  money  at  first,  but  said  later 
that  he  would  accept  an  indemnity  in  proportion  to  the  wrong  that 
had  been  done  him,  and  not  alms.  Mme  Surville,  the  author's 
sister,  recounts  the  affair  in  the  following  words: 

Inquiete  de  la  revolution  qu'avait  dii  produire  le  renversement  de  ses  esp6rances, 
je  courus  le  lendemain  rue  Richelieu,  dans  la  chambre  que  mon  frere  occupait,  et  je 
le  trouvai  en  proie  k  une  grosse  fi^vre.    Je  Temmenai  chez  moi  pour  le  soigner. 

"  Le  Monileur,  March  16,  1840. 

12  LEL,  Vol.  I,  pp.  533  and  534.     March,  1840. 

13  Ibid.  Also,  la  Remce  parisienne,  August  25,  1840.  (Euvres,  Vol.  XXIII,  pp. 
772,  773. 

1*  Letter  published  in  la  Revue  bletie,  November  28,  1903,  part  of  which  reads  as 
follows: 

"Voulez-vous  que  je  me  charge  de  demander  pour  vous  une  indemnity?  Voulez- 
vous  me  chiffrer  la  somme  a  laquelle  s'61eve  ou  votre  dette  ou  vos  pretentions?  En  ce 
cas,  donnez-moi  une  lettre  avec  vos  pouvoirs  pres  du  Ministre.  Personne  au  monde 
ne  le  saura.  La  somme  vous  sera  remise,  soit  a  vous  directement,  soit  a  moi,  qui  vous 
remettrai.  Ni  coUaborateur,  ni  juif  n'entrera  la-dedans,  en  supposant  toutefois  que 
ie  sois  assez  heureux  pour  reussir." 


56  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

Deux  heures  apres  son  installation,  Victor  Hugo,  Alexandre  Dumas  et  plusieurs 
autres  de  ses  confreres  accouraient  pour  lui  offrir  leurs  services. 

M.  ***  arrive  et  dit  a  mon  frere  qu'il  se  fait  fort  de  lui  obtenir  une  belle  indemnite 
s'il  consent  k  retirer  Vautrin,  afin  d'6pargner  k  I'autorit^  une  initiative  qu'il  lui  serait 
d6sagr6able  de  prendre. 

"Monsieur,  lui  repondit  mon  frere,  I'interdiction  de  Vautrin  me  sera  fort  pr6- 
judiciable,  mais  je  n'accepterai  pas  d'argent  en  payement  d'une  injustice;  on  def6ndra 
ma  pi^e,  car  je  ne  la  retirerai  pas." 

Vautrin  fut  raye  de  I'affiche  a  la  troisiame  representation.^^ 

The  director  of  the  Porte-Saint-Martin  agreed  to  revive  the  play, 
but  it  was  not  until  ten  years  later,  while  Balzac  was  in  Germany, 
that  Vautrin  was  transferred  to  the  Gaiete  and  produced  without 
the  consent  of  the  author,  Rancourt  filling  the  title  role.  Balzac 
wrote  angry  protests  against  this  act  of  piracy  both  to  Louis  Veron, 
editor  of  le  Constitutio finely  and  to  the  editor  of  le  Journal  des  debats, 
denouncing  this  violation  of  dramatic  rights. ^^  On  April  1st,  1850, 
Vautrin  was  revived  for  a  single  performance  at  the  Ambigu,  with 
Frederick  Lemaitre. 


The  scene  of  the  drama  is  laid  in  Paris  in  1816,  shortly  after  the 
second  return  of  the  king,  Louis  XVIII.  Among  the  emigres  who 
have  become  again  established  in  France  are  the  Duke  de  Montsorel, 
his  wife  and  his  bastard  son,  the  Marquis  Albert.  The  family, 
which  is  an  old  and  respected  one,  is  far  from  happy.  In  fact,  for 
more  than  twenty  years  the  Duke  has  been  estranged  from  his 
wife,  and  for  twenty  years  he  has  deprived  her  of  her  only  son,  insist- 
ing that  the  unhappy  mother  recognize  as  the  rightful  successor  to 
his  illustrious  name  his  illegitimate  child,  the  son  of  a  Spanish 
courtezan. 

We  are  told  at  the  opening  of  the  drama  why  this  cruel  separation 
has  been  inflicted  upon  the  duchess:  how,  after  seven  months  of 
married  life,  the  poor  woman  bore  a  son  whose  legitimacy  was  doubted 
by  the  Duke,  suspicious  of  his  wife's  relations  with  a  certain  Viscount 
de  Langeac.  Convinced  that  her  persistent  declarations  of  innocence 
would  only  endanger  the  life  of  her  child,  and  confident  that  some 
day  she  would  find  him  again,  the  Duchess  has  held  her  peace. 
Twenty-one  years  have  passed  thus,  when,  at  the  opening  of  the 
drama,  the  mother  declares  that  she  has  seen  a  striking  resemblance 

"*  (Euvres,  Vol.  XXIV,  p.  kxvii. 
"»Corr.,  p.  660.    May  11,  1850. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  57 

to  her  son  in  the  person  of  a  youth  whom  she  has  met  at  the  Spanish 
embassy.  She  discovers  also  that  this  youth,  whose  name  is  Raoul 
de  Frescas,  is  in  love  with  Ines  de  Christoval,  a  beauty  of  high  rank 
and  the  fiancee  of  Albert,  the  Duke's  son.  The  Duchess,  with  her 
mother  instinct  alert  after  these  years  of  separation  and  suffering, 
sends  for  Raoul  and  determines  to  assure  herself  of  his  parentage. 
But  her  husband's  suspicions  are  aroused,  and  he  resolves  to  spy 
upon  his  wife  and  this  interloper,  de  Frescas. 

In  the  midst  of  this  unhappy  household  there  arrives  a  mysterious 
stranger  known  to  the  Montsorel  servants  as  Jacques  Collin.  This 
person,  entering  the  house  with  apparent  defiance  of  locks  and  keys, 
displays  a  great  interest  in  the  family  secrets.  He  plies  the  Duke's 
valet  de  chambre,  Joseph,  with  questions.  We  are  left  but  a  short 
time  in  doubt  as  to  the  identity  of  these  two  worthies:  the  one, 
inquisitive  and  sententious,  is  Vautrin,  the  Vautrin  of  the  galleys 
and  the  Vauquer  boarding-house,  while  Joseph  is  a  former  accomplice 
and  friend  in  crime. 

With  the  second  act  we  learn  that  the  Duke  has  employed  a 
certain  secret  agent  named  Saint-Charles  to  spy  upon  the  rival  of 
his  son.  During  the  bloody  September  days  of  1792  it  was  Saint- 
Charles,  as  we  learn  later,  who  betrayed  and  brought  about  the 
execution  of  Langeac,  the  man  whom  Montsorel  believed  to  be  his 
wife's  lover.  In  the  meanwhile  Madame  de  Montsorel  has  asked 
Raoul  to  call  on  her.  He  arrives,  to  meet  not  only  the  Duke  and  his 
son,  but  also  the  Christoval  family,  mother  and  daughter.  The  un- 
happy youth  is  assailed  by  questions  from  both  families:  who  is  he, 
and  what  is  his  family.  Behind  him  stands  the  tragic  figure  of  the 
Duchess,  whispering:  "Restez  le  personnage  mysterieux  que  vous 
^tes."^^  Heartlessly  snubbed  both  by  the  Duke  and  his  son,  and  un- 
able to  satisfy  the  curiosity  of  the  Christoval s,  Raoul  takes  his  leave 
with  the  mysterious  name  of  Vautrin  on  his  lips:  "O!  Vautrin,  pour- 
quoi  m'avoir  ordonne  ce  silence  absolu?"^^  But  what  interest  has 
Vautrin  in  Raoul,  and  what  bond  is  there  between  them? 

The  third  act  reveals  this.  Vautrin  had  escaped  from  the  Toulon 
galleys  some  twenty-one  years  before.  During  his  subsequent 
wanderings  he  has  met  and  adopted  a  tiny  child,  a  boy,  whom  he 
educated  with  a  father's  care  and  called  Raoul  de  Frescas.     In  an 

17  Act  II,  scene  10. 


58  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

atmosphere  that  reeks  of  the  galleys  and  the  Paris  underworld, 
surrounded  by  thieves  and  cut-throats  who  serve  Vautrin  and  call 
him  emperor,  this  child  has  been  carefully  and  luxuriously  reared. 
We  are  now  made  aware  of  the  paternal  interest  which  Vautrin  has 
taken  in  Raoul;  how  completely  he  governs  the  youth's  destiny  and 
rules  his  conduct.  This  strange  guardian,  who  has  given  the  boy 
houses,  servants,  wealth  and  even  position,  is  also  plotting  as  a  final 
coup  that  he  shall  marry  a  Spanish  princess,  and  is  determined  that 
nothing  shall  stand  in  the  way  of  his  project.  This  is  his  culminating 
dream,  his  final  castle  in  Spain. 

Vautrin  has  reckoned  without  the  Duke  de  Montsorel  and  his 
son.  But  his  suspicions  are  aroused  when  Saint-Charles,  the  Duke's 
spy,  pays  him  a  visit.  He  threatens  to  have  the  latter  imprisoned — 
this  man  of  mystery  commands  brigands  and  dungeons  on  every 
hand — thereby  forcing  him  to  give  up  certain  important  documents 
of  the  Langeac  family,  proving  the  innocence  of  the  Duchess  de 
Montsorel.  He  may  now  control  the  Duke,  but  to  succeed  in  his 
ambitious  project  he  has  yet  much  to  do. 

In  the  fourth  act  we  see  Vautrin  at  work  in  the  Christoval 
household.  Disguised  as  a  Mexican  general,  he  introduces  his  ward 
to  them  as  the  son  of  an  immensely  wealthy  Mexican  dictator. 
With  forged  letters  he  has  little  difficulty  in  deceiving  both  Ines  and 
her  mother.  But  Raoul,  in  spite  of  his  ardent  passion,  is  unwilling 
to  agree  to  this  deception  and  to  compromise  his  honor.  His  struggle 
is  short,  however,  and  we  see  the  youth  sinking  into  the  toils  of  his 
protector.     Raoul  agrees  to  Vautrin's  deceit. 

The  final  act  reveals  again  the  Montsorel  home,  with  a  whole  web 
of  plotting  and  espionage  about  it.  There  are  strange  comings  and 
goings  of  Vautrin's  gang  by  night.  It  has  been  arranged  that  Raoul's 
rival  shall  be  killed.  Vautrin,  the  emperor,  is  himself  directing  the 
energies  of  his  men,  and  when  he  rifles  the  desk  of  Montsorel,  he 
learns  for  the  first  time  that  Raoul  is  really  the  heir  of  the  family. 
In  the  meanwhile,  Saint-Charles,  escaped  from  prison,  has  sum- 
moned the  police.  The  moment  of  Vautrin's  renunciation  has  come. 
Producing  the  genuine  proofs  of  the  Duchess's  innocence,  and  seeing 
the  family  finally  reconciled,  he  takes  a  tender  leave  of  Raoul  and 
is  led  away  by  the  police. 


Although  Balzac  lived  during  the  very  fervent  days  of  romanti- 
cism, the  marked  tendencies  of  this  school  made  themselves  little  felt 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  59 

in  the  Human  Comedy.  Moreover,  we  have  already  seen  how  the 
realist  flayed  the  dramatic  ideals  of  Hugo  and  the  melodramatists 
in  his  criticism  of  the  contemporary  stage.  We  are  amazed  there- 
fore, when  we  come  to  his  first  stage  production,  to  find  it  thoroughly 
like  the  current  melodrama  of  the  day. 

What  is  the  essential  plot  of  Vautrin?  A  criminal  outcast  from 
society  wishes  to  set  the  object  of  his  creation,  "le  fils  de  son  esprit 
et  de  son  fiel,"  in  the  highest  niche  of  society.  His  ambitious 
design  is  frustrated  by  the  fact  that  this  child  whose  destiny  he  has 
controlled  is  the  son  of  a  proud  and  beautiful  member  of  this  same 
society,  a  mother  unjustly  accused,  who  finally  claims  her  own. 
In  his  intrigue  Balzac  has  followed  the  popular  melodrama  very 
closely.  He  wishes  to  emphasize  in  this  play  the  revolt  of  a  criminal 
against  society,  the  romantic  ''force  qui  va,"  with  which  the  public 
was  familiar.  But  there  is  little  naturalness  in  this  intrigue,  and 
the  composition  is  marred  to  a  serious  extent  by  unnecessary  devia- 
tions from  the  main  theme,  by  complicated  counter-plots  in  which 
spies  and  disguises  and  intercepted  messages  play  a  large  part,  and 
by  a  constant  mingling  of  the  comic  with  the  serious.  The  exposi- 
tion is  long  and  tedious,  and  the  reader's  interest  begins  to  flag 
before  the  first  act  is  over.  The  essential  facts  of  the  play  are  told 
in  the  most  haphazard  fashion,  chiefly  by  monologue  and  whispered 
asides  which  are  little  in  keeping  with  real  life.  The  central  character 
of  the  drama  is  Vautrin,  but  he  does  not  figure  in  the  intrigue  until 
the  third  act,  when  we  see  him  surrounded  by  his  band  of  criminals. 
This  central  figure  should  be  prepared  for  us  with  care,  yet  for  two 
full  acts,  while  he  appears  from  time  to  time  on  the  scene  like  the 
protean  figure  of  the  vaudeville,  our  interest  is  not  aroused  in  him. 
In  the  third  act  we  are  transported  rudely  to  a  world  of  thieves  and 
cut-throats  comfortably  moving  in  a  drawing-room.  For  a  time  we 
are  impressed  with  the  sparkle  of  the  comic  scenes  between  Vautrin 
and  his  rogues,  scenes  grossly  comic  to  be  sure,  like  the  sinister 
recitals  of  Vidocq,  yet  the  interest  in  the  intrigue  ceases,  while  we 
follow  with  bewilderment  a  maze  of  melodramatic  incoherences. 
In  like  manner  the  comedy  of  the  fourth  act,  exaggerated  on  the 
famous  first  night  by  Lemaitre  in  his  "toupet  pyramidal,"  is  clever, 
but  there  is  no  longer  any  attempt  at  artistic  construction;  scenes 
follow  one  another  pell-mell,  reaching  a  delirious  climax  in  the  last 
act,  where  the  sudden  entrances,  the  plots  to  kill,  the  secret  doors, 
the  whispered  threats,  and  fortunate  arrivals  follow  in  rapid  succes- 


60  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORIE  DE  BALZAC 

sion.  Let  us  take  a  single  example  of  Balzac^s  utter  disregard  for 
reality  in  his  mad  effort  to  move  his  characters  on  and  off  stage. 
Vautrin  suddenly  comes  upon  the  Duchess  de  Montsorel  and  her 
maiden  aunt.  Wishing  to  send  the  latter  away,  he  tells  her  that 
the  Marquis  is  being  strangled  by  two  assassins,  and  advises  her  to 
go  to  his  aid.  A  strange  order  to  give  to  an  old  lady!  The  plot 
of  Vuutrin  resembles  that  of  an  ordinary  melodrama,  in  which  the 
author  assumes  free  liberty  regarding  his  characters,  and  allows 
them  to  move  in  and  out  of  the  loose  framework  he  has  constructed 
with  utter  disregard  for  the  niceties  of  construction. 


The  characters  of  Vautrin  are  thoroughly  romantic.  They  are 
divided  into  two  unreconcilable  groups — the  "gens  du  monde," 
and  the  ''formats,"  both  moving  with  ease  in  the  drawing-rooms  of 
fashionable  Paris.  But  Balzac  made  his  mistake  when  he  introduced 
high  society  into  this  melodrama.  These  *'gens  du  monde,"  like 
their  counterparts  in  the  Human  Comedy,  are  pale  creatures, 
psychologically  unsound  and  uninteresting.  The  language  which 
they  employ  is  for  the  most  part  the  stilted  language  of  the  romanti- 
cists, inevitably  terminating  in  pompous  tirades.  The  Duchess  is 
probably  the  worst  offender  in  this  respect.  She  constantly  retards 
the  action  to  give  vent  to  lengthy  expressions  of  martyrdom.  This 
mother,  who  vows  vengeance  upon  her  enemies  and  details  her  woes 
in  the  most  intimate  and  harrowing  manner,  is  scarcely  better  than 
the  grief-stricken  mother  in  VAuberge  des  Adrets,  perhaps  the  type 
par  excellence  of  this  character.  The  Duke  and  his  son  are  drawn 
with  even  less  psychological  care.  Balzac  puts  much  of  the  exposi- 
tion into  the  mouth  of  the  one,  and  offsets  the  legitimate  son  with 
the  other.  Raoul  presents  the  handsome  figure  of  a  "jeune  premier," 
for  whose  sake  a  mother's  tears  have  been  shed.  This  romantic 
figure,  overwhelmed  by  the  disillusion  and  mystery  which  surrounds 
him,  is  a  weaker  brother  of  Vautrin's  other  proteges,  Eugene  de 
Rastignac  and  Lucien  de  Rubempre.  But,  unlike  Eugene,  Raoul 
has  had  no  contact  with  the  outside  world;  he  has  never  known  the 
Vauquer  boarding-house  nor  been  the  lover  of  a  great  lady.  Indeed, 
the  hothouse  existence  which  the  ill-starred  youth  has  led  bears 
little  resemblance  to  reality.  His  fine  manners,  his  elegance  and 
aristocratic  bearing  which  permit  him  to  enter  the  most  exclusive 
society,  bear  no  evidence  of  the  hideous  company  in  which  he  has 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  61 

lived.  Like  Lucien,  he  has  been  forced  to  accept  the  paternity  of 
Vautrin,  deriving  from  it  his  whole  existence;  like  Lucien  also  he 
has  been  created  to  inspire  love,  and  when  this  human  passion  over- 
takes him,  when  he  "sees  heaven  for  the  first  time,  and  is  forced 
to  remain  on  earth,"  he  questions  his  destiny  after  the  fatalistic 
manner  of  a  Hugo  hero : 

Suis-je  entre  les  mains  d'un  demon  ou  d'un  ange?  Tu  m'instruis  sans  d^florer 
les  nobles  instincts  que  je  sens  en  moi;  tu  m'eclaires  sans  m'eblouir;  tu  me  donnes 
I'experience  des  vieillards,  et  tu  ne  m'otes  aucune  des  graces  de  la  jeunesse;  mais  tu 
n'as  pas  impun^ment  aiguis6  mon  esprit,  etendu  ma  vue,  eveille  ma  perspicacite.^^ 

Raoul  questions  the  means  by  which  Vautrin  has  made  his  com- 
fortable existence  possible,  and  swears  that  his  honor  must  remain 
intact.  In  fact,  he  has  a  certain  sense  of  honor,  because  a  ''jeune 
premier,"  according  to  all  rules  of  the  melodrama  should  have  one, 
but  his  will  is  feeble.  He  appeals  to  Ines  to  trust  him,  to  believe  in 
his  integrity,  and  he  curses  the  power  of  Vautrin  over  him,  yet  there 
is  little  trace  of  an  inner  struggle.  Balzac  has  reproduced  a  current 
type,  adapting  it  more  or  less  to  the  situation  of  his  play. 

When  we  consider  the  figure  of  Vautrin,  we  are  struck  by  the 
fact  that  the  stage  character  is  much  less  real  and  convincing  than 
the  creation  in  the  novels.^^  In  le  Fere  Goriot  and  in  les  Splendeurs 
et  miseres  des  courtisanes  he  has,  as  on  the  stage,  heroic  proportions, 
but  in  the  one  case  he  is  the  symbol  of  crime,  prepared  for  us  carefully 
by  many  pages  of  physical  and  psychological  description,  while  on 
the  stage  the  unreality  of  the  figure  is  too  apparent,  and  Vautrin  is 
too  openly  a  puppet  in  the  hands  of  a  melodramatist.  If  Vautrin 
is  more  shocking  on  the  stage  than  in  the  novels,  it  is  clearly  because 
he  is  not  the  same  figure.  The  Vautrin  of  the  Human  Comedy 
reveals  Balzac  occupied  as  a  criminologist.  The  author  is  interested 
in  a  social  ''specimen,"  and  makes  it  the  object  of  a  scientific  investi- 
gation. He  has  described  his  brutal  physical  appearance  with  the 
energy  that  Vidocq  employed  when  he  pictured  his  famous  Saint- 
ly Act  III,  scene  10. 

20  Le  Pere  Goriot  appeared  in  1835.  Vautrin  next  figured  in  la  Torpille,  title  under 
which  the  first  part  of  les  Splendeurs  et  miseres  des  courtisanes  was  published  in  1838. 
After  1840,  when  Vautrin  was  represented  theatrically  for  the  first  time,  the  character 
reappeared  in  David  Sechard,  in  1843;  in  the  third  part  of  les  Splendeurs  et  miseres  des 
courtisanes,  entitled  Oil  menent  les  mauvais  chemins,  in  1846;  finally  in  the  fourth  and 
last  part  of  the  same  novel,  la  Dernier e  Incarnation  de  Vautrin,  in  1847. 


62  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

Germain.^^  Physically  a  criminal  type,  the  Vautrin  of  the  Vauquer 
boarding-house  displays  certain  morbid  and  degenerate  tastes.  He 
entered  the  Toulon  galleys  first  for  having  taken  upon  himself  the 
crime  committed  by  an  Italian  youth  whom  he  loved.  Later  he 
attaches  himself  with  unbounded  fervor  to  other  youths.  This  interest 
is  unnatural  and  repulsive.  Prison  life  has  also  filled  this  being  with 
a  great  feeling  of  revolt  against  society,  and  has  rendered  him  a 
dangerous  egoist.  His  sole  activity  is  directed  towards  the  fulfil- 
ment of  certain  ambitious  schemes  for  his  proteges.  His  love  of 
Rastignac  and  his  efforts  to  have  the  young  man  marry  the  daughter 
of  a  rich  banker  lead  to  a  murder  and  to  the  soiling  of  Eugene's  soul. 
In  like  manner,  the  Spanish  priest,  Carlos  Herrera,  instils  his  brutal 
egoism  in  Lucien  de  Rubempre.  Vautrin  is  the  criminal  of  force 
and  magnetism;  his  pessimistic  philosophy,  his  bitter  sarcasm  and 
his  degenerating  effect  upon  youth  are  all  problems  which  Balzac 
has  set  out  to  solve  pathologically,  and  they  hold  the  attention  of 
the  reader. 

On  the  stage  this  same  figure  is  totally  different.  Here  we  have 
no  longer  the  terrible  criminal,  corrupting  and  degenerating,  but  a 
romantic  hero,  a  galley-slave  rehabilitated  through  love  and  renun- 
ciation. As  M.  de  Regnier  puts  it  so  aptly,  Vautrin  is  the  brother 
of  Marion  Delorme.^^  On  the  stage  the  sentimentalism  of  the 
character  is  stressed  to  the  utmost.  It  is  true  that  we  discover 
visions  of  this  in  the  novels  also — Vautrin  learning  to  appreciate 
beauty  from  Benvenuto  Cellini;  teaching  the  lovely  Jewess,  Esther, 
the  Lord's  Prayer — yet  in  the  drama  this  feminine  tenderness  and 
magnanimity  assume  heroic  proportions,  and  are  incomprehensible. 

2^  Vidocq  speaks  of  his  criminal  as  follows:  "Saint-Germain  was  a  man  about 
five  feet  eight  inches  high,  with  strongly  developed  muscles,  an  enormous  head,  and 
very  small  eyes,  half -closed,  like  those  of  an  owl;  his  face,  deeply  marked  with  the  small- 
pox, was  extremely  plain;  and  yet,  from  the  quickness  and  vivacity  of  his  expression, 
he  was  by  many  persons  considered  pleasing.  In  describing  his  features,  a  strong 
resemblance  would  suggest  itself  to  those  of  the  hyena  and  wolf,  particularly  if  the 
attention  were  directed  to  his  immensely  wide  jaws,  furnished  with  large  projecting 
fangs;  his  very  organization  partook  of  the  animal  instinct  common  to  beasts  of  prey. 
As  he  had  acquired  the  airs  and  manners  of  good  society,  he  expressed  himself  when  he 
chose  with  ease  and  fluency,  and  was  almost  always  fashionably  and  elegantly  dressed, 
he  might  be  styled  as  a  'well-bred  thief.' " — Memoirs.  Translation  by  E.  L.  Carey  and 
A.  Hart,  1834,  p.  201.    One  might  compare  this  figure  and  Vautrin. 

22  Journal  des  debats,  May  21,  1910. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  63 

This  type  was  exceedingly  common  on  the  stage  about  1840.^  It 
is  Hugo's 

Agent  aveugle  et  sourd  de  mysteres  funebres! 
Une  ame  de  malheur  faite  avec  des  tenebres!^* 

expressing  the  great  romantic  revolt  against  society.  Like  the 
redskin  of  Cooper,  Vautrin  finds  man's  life  a  struggle  for  existence 
in  the  face  of  countless  dangers: 

Apres  tout,  c'est  la  vie  d'un  Indien  entoure  d'ennemis,  et  je  d6fends  mes  cheveux." 

The  real  power  of  this  world  lies  outside  of  society,  either  with  kings 
or  with  criminals.26  Balzac  is  adding  merely  another  reproach 
against  society  that  the  outlaw  Hernani  and  the  valet  Ruy  Bias  had 
already  voiced.  Vautrin,  the  superman,  is  another  figure  of  romantic 
disenchantment  and  pessimism,  whose  bitter  philosophy,  when 
preached  from  the  stage,  Balzac's  audience  was  not  inclined  to  toler- 
ate. Frederick  Lemaitre  realized  this,  when  he  attempted  to 
renew  in  the  role  the  buffoonery  of  Robert  Macaire.  The  character 
is  thoroughly  romantic,  a  mingling  of  sinister  criminality  and  paternal 
tenderness.     To  Raoul,  Vautrin  cries: 

Mon  coeur  doit  ^tre  pour  toi  ce  que  le  ciel  est  pour  les  anges,  un  espace  o^  tout 
est  bonheur  et  confiance.^^ 

It  is  the  same  romantic  cry  that  Triboulet  utters  in  le  Roi  s^ amuse: 
Ma  fille,  6  seul  bonheur  que  le  ciel  m'ait  permis.^^ 

This  constant  mingling  of  the  base  with  the  elevated,  of  comedy  and 
real  drama,  these  violent  gestures  and  cries,  the  appeal  to  the  nerves 
of  the  spectators,  are  all  the  tricks  of  the  romantic  stage,  while 
through  them  all  the  moral  lesson,  the  "idee  severe"  of  Hugo  is 
lacking.  M.  Fernand  Roux,  in  an  admirable  discussion  of  the 
character  of  Vautrin,  has  expressed  clearly  the  reason  for  its  failure 
upon  the  stage: 

La  premiere  condition  de  reussite  au  theatre,  c'est  la  vie;  il  faut  que  I'illusion 
reste  aussi  proche  que  possible  de  la  r6alite  ou  bien  I'artifice  apparait  comme  les  fils 

^^  Romantic  literature  was  immensely  interested  in  criminals  of  various  sorts;  it 
is  sufficient  to  recall  besides  les  Miserables,  Hugo's  Claude  Gueux  and  le  Dernier  Jour 
d'un  condamne.  On  the  latter,  see  the  article  by  Gustave  Charlier  in  la  Revue  d'histoire 
litUraire,  July-December  1915,  pp.  321-60. 

2*  Hernani,  act  III,  scene  4. 

"^  Act  I,  scene  5. 

26  Act  III,  scene  10. 

27  Act  III,  scene  10. 

28  Act  II,  scene  3. 


64  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

dans  un  spectacle  de  marionnettes.  Or,  Vautrin  n'existe  pas;  il  est  tour  a  tour  trop 
mfS,me  et  trop  grand,  trop  noble  et  trop  trivial,  trop  philosophique  et  trop  peuple.'^' 

The  false  heroism  and  final  renunciation  of  Vautrin  merely  shocked 
the  pit,  who,  willing  to  accept  the  heroic  proportions  of  the  criminal 
in  the  novel,  were  disgusted  by  them  on  the  stage. 


On  the  fourteenth  of  March,  1840,  when  the  audience  of  the 
Porte-Saint-Martin  witnessed  the  first  performance  of  Balzac's 
drama,  Vautrin,  they  were  not  seeing  for  the  first  time  a  new  creation 
of  the  author.  They  were  already  familiar  with  the  muscular 
ex-convict  of  le  Pdre  Goriot  and  with  the  Spanish  priest  of  la  Torpille 
who  charged  himself  with  the  role  of  Providence  in  behalf  of  a 
friendless  youth.^°  Having  already  placed  his  figure  of  Vautrin  in 
the  novels,  where  it  had  become  popular,  when  Balzac  began  to 
write  for  the  stage,  what  is  more  natural  than  to  find  a  reincarnation 
of  this  figure  for  a  popular  actor,  Frederick  Lemaitre,  whose  successes 
at  the  moment  were  due  to  the  interpretation  of  a  similar  role.  It 
was  the  novelist's  belief,  moreover,  that  isolated  novel  or  drama 
expressed  life  badly.  He  intended  that  his  characters  should  appear 
and  reappear  in  his  work,  with  the  result  of  a  certain  continuity  of 
creation.  A  detail  of  costume,  a  striking  word  or  characteristic 
gesture  often  called  up  in  his  mind  a  whole  new  character.  He 
had  seen  Frederick  Lemaitre  bluff  and  bluster  through  le  Paradis 
des  voleurs.  Here  was  an  excellent  opportunity  for  him  to  introduce 
his  already  conceived  character  in  a  play  which  might  capture  the 
public. 

In  fact,  the  character  of  the  ex-convict,  transformed  into  a  bene- 
factor of  humanity  and  ready  to  render  some  noble  service,  was  a 
familiar  one  at  this  period,  and  was  expecially  well-known  at  the 
theatre.  A  drama  called  VHonnUe  Criminel,  by  Fenouillot  de 
Falbaire,  which  Brazier,  in  his  Chroniques  des  petits  thedtres,  tells  us 
was  produced  in  1768,^^  seems  to  have  been  one  of  the  first  of  these 
plays  dealing  with  a  galley-hero,  and  in  it  we  discover  vague  outlines 

*•  Balzac  jurisconsulte  et  criminaliste,     1906,  p.  283. 

3°  In  his  Histoire  des  treize,  dated  February  1833,  Balzac  had  created  a  brother 
type  to  Vautrin — Ferragus,  the  chief  of  a  band  of  outlaws  who  were  bound  together  to 
defy  all  social  laws. 

«  Paris,  1883.    Vol.11,  p.  296. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONOR^  DE  BALZAC  65 

of  the  Jean  Valjean  and  the  Vautrin  types.  Among  the  numerous 
pantomimes  written  by  the  prolific  Jean-Fran?ois  Mussot,  better 
known  by  his  pseudonym,  Arnould,  was  one  called  la  Foret  noircj 
staged  at  the  Ambigu-Comique,  according  to  Brazier,  about  1792.^^ 
This  successful  pantomime  introduces  on  the  scene  a  young  boy  who 
has  been  stolen  by  an  organized  band  of  robbers,  and  who  finally 
converts  his  captors.  With  the  advent  of  Pix6recourt  and  his  melo- 
dramas, we  find  still  further  instances  of  this  type  of  hero.  In 
Victor y  ou  V enfant  de  la  fore^^  the  son  of  a  brigand  who  is  a  bitter 
enemy  of  society  is  brought  up  by  a  certain  Baron  Fritzerne.  When 
Victor  learns  that  his  real  father  is  about  to  attack  the  baron's 
castle,  he  goes  to  him  and  begs  him  to  renounce  his  undertaking. 
The  brigand  defends  his  trade,  and  declares  that  he  is  not  a  robber 
but  an  avenger.  In  1802,  the  Ambigu  theatre  presented  a  play  by 
Cuvelier  de  Trye  called  le  Tribunal  invisible  ou  le  fils  criminely  in 
which  the  interest  centered  about  a  certain  Count  of  Heidelberg, 
the  leader  of  a  mysterious  tribunal,  whose  meetings  are  carried  on  in 
the  depths  of  the  forest.  Finally,  in  1833,  on  the  25th  of  April,  the 
bill-board  of  the  Porte-Saint-Martin  bore  this  imposing  announce- 
ment: UAuberge  des  Adrets.  Le  dernier  quart  d^heure,  epilogue 
termini  par  le  Paradis  des  voleurs,  episode  fantastique  par  MM. 
Frederick  Lemaitrey  Serres^  Saint-Paul.^  This  melodrama  in  three 
acts  had  been  first  composed  forLemaltreby  three  popular  dramatists, 
Benjamin  Antier,  Saint-Amand  and  Paulyanthe,  and  represented 
at  the  Ambigu-Comique  for  the  first  time,  July  2,  1823.  It  was 
taken  later — January  28,  1832 — to  the  Porte-Saint-Martin,  where 
the  sombreness  of  the  plot  seemed  to  point  to  a  failure.  Lemaltre, 
always  familiar  with  the  tastes  of  his  public,  hit  upon  the  happy 
scheme  of  remodeling  the  play,  making  a  grotesque  figure  of  the 
gruesome  hero.  Robert  Macaire,  the  incarnation  of  criminal  buffoon- 
ery, was  the  result,  and  all  Paris  flocked  to  the  Folies-Dramatiques 
to  see  the  new  piece.^^  The  remodeled  play  was  made  up  of  a  series 
of  loose  episodes  which  served  merely  to  present  the  grotesque  figure 
of  Robert  Macaire,  an  escaped  criminal,  whose  remarkable  wit  and 
charlatanism,  whose  cynical  regard  for  society  follow  him  through  a 
series  of  the  most  burlesque  adventures.     In  choosing  a  similar  hero 

32/6«f.,  Vol.  I,p.  64. 

33  Ambigu,  November  9,  1797. 

3*  See  Duval,  Frederick  Lemattre  et  son  temps,  1876,  p.  132. 

^  See  page  52,  note  3. 


66  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

for  his  first  play  Balzac  would  then  be  catering  to  a  very  popular 
taste;  his  appeal  would  be  to  those  eager  souls  who  were  already 
familiar  with  his  hero  of  fiction,  who,  with  this  former  creation  still 
in  their  minds,  would  welcome  with  avidity  the  further  lively  adven- 
tures of  his  hero.  There  is  no  doubt  too  that  Balzac  was  eager  to 
see  Lemaitre  play  the  r61e.  In  the  preface  to  the  play  we  read: 
"L'auteur  expliquerait-il  son  ceuvre?  Mais  elle  ne  pouvait  avoir 
que  M.  Frederick  Lemaitre  pour  commentateur."  It  was  Frederick 
Lemaitre,  the  idol  of  the  melodrama,  who  had  just  taken  Paris  by 
storm  with  the  grotesque  figure  of  Robert  Macaire.  ^^ Robert 
Macaire  est  I'elu  de  la  foule;  on  I'aime,  on  I'admire,  on  I'applaudit," 
writes  Jules  Janin  in  les  Dibats,  and  among  those  who  saw  and 
applauded  this  sparkling  bit  of  buffoonery  was  the  author  of  Vautrin. 
Later  he  wrote  of  it: 

C'est  la  seule  grande  piece  de  notre  temps,  elle  est  toute  aristophanesque." 

What  is  more  natural  than  that  Balzac,  mindful  of  the  popularity 
and  of  the  resulting  financial  success  of  Robert  Macaire,  interpreted 
by  Frederick  Lemaitre,  should  search  about  for  a  similar  r61e  to  suit 
him. 

There  are  also  certain  suggestions  of  plot  and  character  in  the 
sombre  original  of  Robert  Macaire,  the  melodrama  known  as  VAuberge 
des  Adrets.  In  this  play  two  fathers  discuss  the  marriage  of  their 
children,  a  boy  and  a  girl.  Dumont,  the  father  of  the  boy,  declares 
that  Charles  is  not  his  own  son,  that  he  found  him  in  an  inn  at 
Grenoble  and  adopted  him.  There  is  a  striking  resemblance  here 
to  the  mystery  about  Raoul's  birth  and  adoption  by  Vautrin,  the 
latter  declaring  that  he  found  the  boy  a  beggar  along  the  road.  In 
the  same  drama,  a  mother,  who  has  lost  her  son  and  has  been  unjustly 
accused  of  a  wrong  that  she  has  never  committed,  finally  has  the 
child  restored  to  her.  The  poor  woman,  whose  misfortunes  have 
been  caused  by  a  worthless  husband,  rants  of  her  sufferings  and 
threatens  a  mother's  vengeance  in  much  the  same  manner  that  the 
Duchess  de  Montsorel  does.  In  the  end  Robert  Macaire,  the 
genius  of  evil,  unites  mother  and  son,  and  dies. 

The  numerous  disguises  of  Vautrin  Balzac  has  also  borrowed 
from  Robert  Macaire.  This  insistence  upon  costume  was  an  old 
melodramatic  trick  much  practised  by  Ducange  and  his  school.     But 

^  Lettre  d  M.  Hippolyte  Casiille,  appeared  first  in  la  Semaine,  dated  October  11 
1846,  (Euwes,  Vol.  XXII,  p.  368. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  67 

the  taste  for  scenery  and  dress  was  also  an  object  of  special  care  in 
the  romantic  drama,  illustrated,  for  example,  in  Vigny's  Marechale 
d'Ancre  and  in  the  historical  pageants  of  Dumas.  Vautrin  wears 
seven  complete  changes  of  costume,  ranging  from  that  of  a  foreign 
diplomat,  a  business  man,  to  that  of  a  Tartuffe  in  black,  a  Mexican 
general  and  a  bourgeois  Napoleon!  Macaire  introduces  himself 
at  the  Auberge  des  Adrets  in  a  disguise,  and  poses  throughout  the 
later  travesty  as  some  personnage  other  than  his  real  self.  The 
scene  where  Vautrin  appears  as  a  Mexican  general  and  carries  on  a 
ridiculous  dialogue  in  patois  with  Lafouraille  also  suggest  the  scene 
where  Macaire  and  Bertrand  appear  before  the  ''reunion  electrale" 
in  parliamentary  costume.  Lafouraille,  the  light-fingered  accomplice 
of  Vautrin,  reproached  by  his  master  for  thieving,  is  the  counterpart 
of  Bertrand,  who  steals  a  ring  from  the  mayor's  wife,  M.  Magloire*s 
handkerchief,  and  even  tries  to  steal  from  his  chief. 

This  popular  vaudeville  type,  Robert  Macaire,  whose  character 
is  a  mingling  of  derision,  sarcasm,  horrible  gaiety,  elegance  and 
grace,  furnished  Balzac  with  more  than  one  trait  for  Vautrin.  This 
influence  may  have  come  before  the  play  was  conceived,  and  the 
bursts  of  sinister  laughter,  the  cold,  calculating  and  murderous 
designs,  the  feigned  elegance  and  outbursts  of  song  of  Lamaitre's 
creation  may  have  already  found  their  way  into  the  Vauquer  board- 
ing house.  At  all  events,  when  Balzac  came  to  put  Vautrin  on  the 
stage,  he  remembered  the  success  of  Robert  Macaire  and  the  inter- 
preter of  the  role. 

Balzac  declares  that  the  original  of  Vautrin  really  existed.^^  The 
model  which  he  unquestionably  took  for  this  extraordinary  character 
was  a  certain  Francois  Vidocq,  a  notorious  ex-convict  from  the 
galleys  of  Brest  and  Toulon,  who  later  became  "chef  de  la  surete" 
at  Paris.  Balzac  had  met  Vidocq  on  several  occasions,  and  they 
became  quite  good  friends.^^  There  is,  moreover,  every  reason  to 
believe  that  Balzac  had  read  the  memoirs  published  under  his  name, 
and  obtained  from  the  highly  coloured  and  exaggerated  recitals  the 
principal  episodes  for  his  Vautrin  exploits.^^     First  of  all,  a  word 

37  Letlre  d  M.  Hippolyte  Castille.     (Euvres,  Vol.  XXII,  p.  364. 

38  Gozlan,  Balzac  chez  lui. 

''  See  Gozlan,  Balzac  chez  lui',  also  Le  Breton,  Balzac,  pp.  172  and  173;  Roux, 
Balzac  jurisconsulte  et  criminaliste,  p.  357. 


68  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

might  be  said  about  the  name  Vautrin.  In  Vidocq's  Memoirs*'^  the 
author  recounts  an  exciting  chase  after  a  certain  counterfeiter  whom 
he  captured  after  a  violent  hand-to-hand  fight.  The  man's  name 
was  Watrin.^^  The  importance  of  this  episode  is  emphasized  by  the 
fact  that  the  capture  was  the  result  of  his  first  work  as  police  agent. 
It  is  very  likely  that  Vidocq,  so  loquacious  and  so  much  on  his  mettle 
before  the  great  man,  Balzac,  had  told  him  of  this  adventure.  Balzac 
whose  eagerness  for  names  and  whose  belief  in  their  significance  was 
so  great,  may  very  easily  have  hit  upon  his  ex-convict's  name  in  this 
manner.  There  are,  however,  in  the  play  certain  traces  of  the 
author's  association  with  Vidocq  which  do  not  occur  in  the  novels, 
strengthening  the  belief  that  Vidocq  and  his  tales  were  an  all- 
important  source.  In  the  play  we  have  the  following  list  of  Vautrin's 
accomplices  and  spies: 

Franfois  Cadet  (Philosophe),  cocher 

Fil-de-soie,  cuisinier 

Buteux,  portier 

Joseph  Bonnet,  valet  de  chambre 

Philippe  Boulard  (Lafouraille). 

We  have  also  Charles  Blondet,  called  le  Chevalier  de  Saint-Charles, 
in  the  employ  of  the  Duke  de  Montsorel.'*^  In  the  Memoirs  we  read 
of  an  escaped  convict  from  Toulon  who  called  himself  Cadet-Paul.*' 
Philosophe,  in  criminal  argot,  Vidocq  tells  us  means  miserable.** 
At  least  four  of  the  Balzac  spies  bear  names  beginning  with  B: 
Buteux,  Bonnet,  Boulard,  Blondet.  Compare  with  these  the  follow- 
ing list  of  Vidocq's  assassins  and  thieves:  Bouhin,  Boudin,  Boucault, 
Bouthey,  Bourdarie,  Boudier,  Blondy,  Blondel.  It  seems  quite 
possible  that  Balzac,  with  his  fondness  for  just  the  right  appellation, 

*°  Memoirs  de  Vidocq,  chef  de  la  police  de  sureti  jusqu'en  1827,  aujourd'hui  pro- 
prietaire  el  fabricanl  de  papier  d  Saint-Mande,  Paris,  1828,  Vol.  I  and  II.  Last  two  vol- 
umes appeared  the  following  year. 

The  author  of  this  study  has  been  forced  to  use  an  American  translation  of  Vidocq: 
Memoirs  {unlil  1827).  Translated  from  the  French,  Phila.,  E.  L.  Carey  and  A.  Hart. 
Balto.,  Carey,  Hart  and  Co.,  1834. 

■**  Memoirs,  p.  193. 

^  Lafouraille  in  les  Splendeurs  et  miseres  des  courtisanes  is  La  Pouraille,  a  celeb- 
rity of  three  galleys,  with  a  mania  for  disguises.  Fil-de-soie  figures  both  in  les  Splen- 
deurs et  miseres  des  courtisanes  and  in  le  Pere  Goriot. 

«p.  115. 

^  Les  Voleurs,  physiologic  de  leurs  mxurs  et  de  leur  langage.  Second  edition,  Paris, 
1837. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  69 

found  here  in  Vidocq  the  right  assortment  of  splendid-sounding  names. 
The  idea  of  an  organized  band  of  fugitive  galley  prisoners,  perpetrat- 
ing daily  robberies  as  Vautrin's  gang  is  doing,  with  a  recognized 
leader  for  whom  they  have  the  greatest  respect,  is  also  borrowed 
from  Vidocq.^^  The  scene  between  Vautrin  and  Saint-Charles, 
where  the  former  assumes  the  dress  of  a  German  and  the  accomplice, 
Lafouraille,  speaks  broken  French,  recalls  the  interesting  case  which 
Vidocq  relates  in  which  he  was  disguised  as  a  German  servant,  and 
employed  a  Rhenish  accent.'*^  Vidocq  also  recounts  the  history 
of  a  certain  Jossas,  known  as  the  Marquis  de  Saint-Armand 
de  Feral,  one  of  the  most  famous  robbers  of  Paris  and  a  former 
companion  of  Vidocq  at  Toulon.  This  thief  used  to  operate  by 
means  of  false  keys,  meditating  a  burglary  a  long  time  in  advance. 
He  passed  himself  off  in  high  society  as  a  Cuban  Creole,  and  frequently 
asked  and  obtained  the  hands  of  daughters  of  distinguished  families, 
usually  making  off  with  the  dowry  before  the  date  set  for  the  marriage. 
Vautrin  likewise  enters  the  Montsorel  house,  obtains  wax  impressions 
of  the  locks  for  the  purpose  of  robbing  the  Duke's  study;  he  plots 
to  marry  off  Raoul  as  the  son  of  a  Mexican  dictator  to  a  Spanish 
heiress,  himself  assuming  the  r61e  of  a  Mexican  general.*^  The  note 
of  pessimism  in  Vautrin's  reflections  on  his  former  miserable  life 
recalls  certain  retrospective  passages  in  Vidocq's  history  where  he 

^  Memoirs,  pp.  186  and  191. 

*«  Ibid.,  p.  313. 

*''  Paul  Ginisty,  the  author  of  an  extremely  interesting  book  on  the  melodrama, 
thinks  that  Balzac  borrowed  from  other  sources  some  of  his  traits  for  Vautrin,  among 
others,  from  the  history  of  a  celebrated  escaped  convict,  Pierre  Coignard,  alias  Count 
Pontis  de  Sainte-H61^ne,  a  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  service  of  Louis  XVIII.  Balzac, 
in  fact,  alludes  to  Coignard  in  la  Derniere  incarnation  de  Vautrin,  in  the  scene  where 
Vautrin  is  recognized  by  La  Pouraille  and  Fil-de-soie  at  the  Conciergerie.  Ginisty 
writes:  "II  s'est  manifestement  souvenu  de  Coignard  dans  le  drame  de  Vautrin.  Des 
le  premier  acte,  Vautrin,  en  tenue  de  soiree,  s'introduisant  dans  I'hotel  de  Montsorel, 
s'adresse  au  valet  de  chambre  Joseph,  son  affilie,  et  lui  dit:  *Je  t'ai  demande  les 
empreintes  de  toutes  les  serrures  du  cabinet  de  monsieur  le  due.  Oil  sont-elles?'  Au 
quatrieme  acte,  Vautrin  parait  en  uniforme  de  general,  apres  qu'on  I'a  vu,  a  I'acte 
precedant,  donner  ses  instructions  a  ses  complices."  (De  Quoi  est  fait  Vautrin, 
Journal  des  dihats,  May  27,  1910).  Coignard  was  especially  fond  of  obtaining  wax 
impressions  of  locks  in  certain  houses  which  he  visited,  turning  them  over  later  to  his 
accomplices  who  made  good  use  of  them.  Continuing  in  the  same  article,  Ginisty 
writes:  "Balzac  avait  ete  frappe  de  bien  des  circonstances  dans  le  proces  de  Coignard 
de  1817,  ou  I'accuse  resta  beau  joueur,  ayant  garde,  pendant  sa  detention  preventive 
a  la  Force,  un  singulier  ascendant  sur  ses  co-detenus." 


70  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONOR^  DE  BALZAG 

tells  of  his  honest  struggles  after  bitter  years  in  the  galleys,  his 
constant  fear  of  arrest,  and  the  association  with  his  former  criminal 
companions: 

No  hell  can  be  imagined  equal  to  the  torment  in  which  I  now  existed.  .  .  .  Some- 
times I  trembled  at  the  thought  of  my  apprehension,  and  my  home  was  transformed 
into  a  filthy  dungeon;  sometimes  it  was  surrounded  by  the  police,  and  their  pursuit 
laid  open  proofs  of  a  misdeed  which  would  draw  down  on  me  the  vengeance  of  the 
laws.*' 

In  like  words  Vautrin  speaks  of  his  former  life: 

L'enfer!  c'est  le  monde  des  bagnes  et  des  for  gats  decor6s  par  la  justice  et  par  la 
gendarmerie  de  marques  et  de  menottes,  conduits  oil  ils  vont  par  la  misere,  et  qui  ne 
peuvent  jamais  en  sortir.*' 


We  know  that  Balzac  was  accused  of  having  offended  good  taste 
and  morality  in  his  play.  The  official  interdictions  on  the  Monday 
following  the  first  performance  referred  to  the  immorality  of  the 
subject.  The  press  attacked  him  also  on  these  same  grounds.  Balzac 
took  up  the  defense  of  his  play  against  this  charge,  and  declared,  in 
all  probability  with  truth,  that  the  indictment  against  morality 
merely  hid  the  royal  disfavor  at  the  principal  actor,  Frederick 
Lemaitre.  His  intentions  are  also  expressed  in  the  preface  to  the 
first  edition  of  les  Splendeurs  et  miser es  des  cour tisanes,  written  in  1844: 

Quelques  plumes  anim6es  d'une  fausse  philanthropie  font,  depuis  une  dizaine 
d'anndes,  du  for  gat,  un  6tre  int^ressant,  excusable,  une  victime  de  la  soci6t6;  mais, 
selon  nous,  ces  peintures  sont  dangereuses  et  antipolitiques.  II  faut  presenter  ces 
Stres-1^  ce  qu'ils  sont,  des  etres  mis  a  toujours  hors  la  lot.  Tel  6tait  le  sens  infiniment 
peu  compris  de  la  piece  intitulee  Vautrin,  ou  le  personnage  concluait  a  son  impossibility 
sociale,  en  offrant  le  combat  dramatique  de  la  police  et  d'un  voleur  incessamment 
aux  prises.*" 

This  social  import,  however,  we  are  forced  to  believe  was  added  by 
the  author  after  the  play  was  written,  for  at  the  time  he  certainly 
had  no  definite  well-formed  philosophical  intention. 

**  Memoirs,  p.  173. 

*•  Act  III,  scene  10.  It  is  curious  to  note,  before  leaving  Vidocq,  whose  influence 
seems  to  have  been  more  or  less  direct  upon  Balzac's  play,  that  in  May  1910,  there  was 
given  at  the  Th6itre  Sarah-Bernhardt  a  five-act  play  by  fimile  Bergeret,  called  Vidocq, 
empereur  des  policiers.  Henri  de  Regnier,  reviewing  this  play  in  le  Journal  des  dehats, 
May  27,  1910,  says  Vidocq  has  here  been  dSvautrinisi. 

w  (Euvres,  Vol.  XXII,  p.  576. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  71 

In  conclusion,  it  must  be  admitted  that  Vautrin  is  a  play  of  little 
dramatic  value.  Through  the  mingling  of  comedy  and  drama,  the 
"pathetique  brutal"  and  unreality  of  the  action,  the  stilted  and 
lachrymose  language  of  the  characters  and  the  heroic  proportions 
which  the  author  has  given  them,  and  through  the  melodramatic 
insistence  on  scenery  and  costume,  the  play  is  frankly  romantic.  It 
is  the  product  of  a  day  of  melodrama,  with  little  to  distinguish  it 
from  the  contemporary  plays  of  Pixerecourt  or  Ducange.  Written 
for  popular  taste,  to  be  acted  by  a  popular  comedian,  it  was  no  better 
than  thousands  of  other  ephemeral  productions  of  the  boulevard 
stage. 


LES  RESSOURCES  DE  QUINOLA 

In  September  1841,  Balzac  writes  that  a  new  play  has  been 
completed  bearing  the  name,  les  Ruhriques  de  Quinola}  In  spite 
of  the  financial  reverses  of  Vautrin,  the  author  seems  to  have  looked 
forward  with  his  usual  sanguine  spirit  towards  this  new  venture. 
In  January  of  the  following  year  the  name  of  the  comedy  was  changed, 
and  Balzac  writes  to  Mme  Hanska: 

Pour  parler  affaires,  j'ai  fait  un  grand  pas.  Du  5  au  7  fevrier  on  represente  h. 
I'Od^on  Vi^cole  des  Grands  Hommes,  une  immense  comedie  sur  la  lutte  d'un  homme 
de  genie  avec  son  siecle.  La  scene  est  en  1560,  en  Espagne.  II  s'agit  de  Thomme  qui 
fit  manoeuvrer  un  bateau  a  vapeur  dans  le  port  de  Barcelone,  le  coula  et  disparut.  Si 
j'ai  un  succes,  je  pars;  si  je  tombe,  il  faut  faire  quatre  volumes  pour  pouvoir  gagner 
I'argent  du  voyage.  .  .  .  Tout  le  monde  croit  a  un  immense  succes  pour  les  Ressources 
de  Quinola,  le  faux  litre  de  ma  piece.  Je  garde  celui  que  je  vous  ai  dit  pour  le  dernier 
moment.' 

Preoccupied  as  was  the  author  of  Quinola  with  a  financial  success  for 
his  play,  he  seems  also  to  have  had  an  immense  amount  of  ambition 
to  outdo  the  other  dramatists  of  the  year  whose  plays  had  not 
succeeded.^     He  wished  to  produce  the  "taking"  play  of  the  season: 

Ce  n'est  plus  I'auteur  ni  I'homme  affam6  d'argent,  c'est  I'amant  qui  d6sire  un 
succSs.* 

he  also  writes  to  Mme  Hanska  about  the  same  time. 

The  story  of  the  first  reading  of  the  play  in  1842  to  Auguste 
Liroux,  director  of  the  Odeon,  and  to  the  actors  of  the  company  is 
too  well-known  to  be  repeated  here.  Leon  Gozlan,  who  was  an 
interested  spectator  on  the  occasion,  recounts  the  story  at  full  length 
in  his  volume  entitled  Balzac  chez  lui.^  Gozlan  tells  us  that  Balzac 
read  four  acts,  then  declared  that  the  fifth  was  not  yet  written;  also 
that  he  then  proceeded  to  improvise  the  fifth  act  much  to  the  surprise 
of  the  company,  and  to  the  utter  disgust  of  Mme  Dorval,  for  whom 
a  principal  role  had  been  written.     Rehearsals  of  the  play  began 

^  LEt.,  Vol.  I,  p.  569.     September  30,  1841. 

?  76^.,  pp.  573-4.     January  5,  1842. 

2  See  supra,  p.  4. 

*  LEt.,  Vol.  II,  p.  5.     January  11,  1842. 

5  Pages  102-146.     See  also  Liroux  in  le  Constitutionnel,  August  25,  1851. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  73 

almost  immediately,  with  the  last  two  acts  unfinished.  All  the  de- 
tails of  Balzac's  eccentric  dealings  with  Liroux,  the  substitution  of 
Mme  Helena  Gaussin  for  Mme  Dorval,  as  well  as  the  bizarre  distri- 
bution of  seats,  the  author's  ticket  speculation  and  the  almost  empty 
auditorium,  recalling  in  themselves  the  vagaries  of  Balzac's  inventor- 
hero,  are  related  with  much  detail  by  Gozlan  in  the  volume  just  cited. 
The  story  of  Balzac's  disgust  with  the  play,  his  neglect  to  finish  its 
composition,  his  letters  to  Mile  Sophie  Koslovski,  demanding  the 
addresses  of  prominent  Russians  to  whom  he  wished  to  send  seats 
for  the  first  night,^  his  immense  boasting  about  the  quality  of  the 
play  and  about  its  costly  production,  his  feverish  agitation  over 
its  outcome  and  his  eleventh-hour  demand  for  the  rejected  "cla- 
queurs"— all  suggest  in  the  most  striking  fashion  a  page  from  the 
life  of  one  of  his  own  monomaniacs.  Gozlan,  who  recounts  this 
story  as  an  eye-witness,  should  be  consulted  for  the  complete  history.^ 
Les  Ressources  de  Quinola,  a  comedy  in  five  acts  with  a  prologue, 
was  given  for  the  first  time  at  the  Odeon  theatre  on  March  19,  1842. 
The  play,  one  volume  in-8,  was  published  by  Souverain  with  a 
preface  dated  Lagny,  April  2,  1842,  preceding  by  four  days  the 
publication  of  the  first  part  of  the  first  edition  of  the  Human  Comedy.^ 


In  the  sumptuously  fitted  home  of  Balzac  on  the  Avenue  Fortunee, 
— today,  the  Rue  Balzac — the  home  to  which  the  novelist  brought 
his  Russian  bride  only  a  few  months  before  his  death,  there  was  a 
study  hung  with  green  damask  and  furnished  with  sombre  oak  and 
ebony.  Five  frames  hung  on  the  walls  of  this  room.  Two  contained 
the  portraits  of  Columbus  and  Salomon  de  Caus.  The  remaining 
three  were  empty,  and  these,  we  are  told,  were  to  be  occupied  by  the 
portraits  of  Fulton,  Gutenberg  and  Galileo.^  Five  representatives 
of  the  world's  injustice!  ''L'ironie  du  monde  est  plus  funeste  aux 
gens  de  talent  qu'a  tous  les  autres,"  writes  somewhere  Mme  de 
Stael.  Before  he  had  hung  his  martyred  men  of  science  and  inven- 
tion upon  his  study  walls,  Balzac  had  already  painted  them  on  the 
pages  of  his  Human  Comedy.     Balthazar  Claes  and  David  Sechard 

«  Corr.,  pp.  357,  359,  360. 

^  See  also  the  criticisms  of  the  first  performance  in  le  Courrier  franqais,  March  21; 
la  Gazette  de  France,  March  2 1  and  30,  1842. 

^  Lovenjoul,  Histoire  des  auvres  de  Balzac,  pp.  5  and  222. 
'Unsigned  article  in  la  Revue  franqaise,  June  20,  1856. 


74  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

were  both  victims  of  the  world's  irony.  Likewise,  les  Res  sources  de 
Quinola,  as  the  author  tells  us,  is  ''le  debat  d'un  grand  homme  avec 
son  siecle."^''  The  great  man  is  Fontanares,  the  inventor  of  a  steam- 
propelled  boat,  believed  by  the  Holy  Inquisition  to  be  the  work  of 
the  devil.  In  the  prologue  to  the  play  we  are  at  the  Spanish  court 
at  Valladolid,  where  Quinola,  late  of  the  Tunis  galleys,  is  seeking  an 
audience  with  the  all-powerful  monarch,  Philip  II,  in  behalf  of  his 
master,  Fontanares.  The  king  that  day  has  heard  of  the  destruction 
of  his  Invincible  Armada,  and  is  inclined  to  listen  with  favor  to  tales 
of  new  vessels.  Heedless  then  of  the  warnings  of  his  spiritual 
advisors,  he  causes  the  inventor  to  be  brought  before  him,  and  grants 
him  permission  to  try  out  his  experiments  at  Barcelona,  promising 
a  dukeship  if  he  succeeds,  and  death  if  he  fails. 

At  Barcelona,  where  we  are  transported  in  the  first  act,  Fon- 
tanares and  Quinola  are  facing  death  from  poverty.  Moreover,  all 
the  rich  and  powerful  of  the  kingdom  are  leagued  against  the  poor 
inventor.  We  are  presented  in  rapid  succession  to  the  figures  with 
whom  his  unhappy  destiny  is  to  be  linked:  Don  Fregose,  the  old 
viceroy,  and  his  mistress,  the  lovely  Venetian,  Faustine  Brancadori; 
Lothundiaz,  the  usurer,  and  his  daughter,  Marie,  to  whom  Fonta- 
nares has  dedicated  the  fruits  of  his  labor;  Avaloros,  the  banker,  who 
is  credulous  enough  to  believe  Fontanares'  invention  possible;  the 
secretary  to  the  viceroy  of  Catalonia,  Sarpi,  whom  Lothundiaz  has 
chosen  for  his  son-in-law.  Meanwhile  Quinola  the  resourceful  has 
fallen  in  with  an  old  friend,  a  former  galley  companion  who  calls 
himself  Monipodio.  This  ragged  rascal,  once  a  thief,  now  plying 
the  questionable  trade  of  stool-pigeon,  listens  with  greedy  interest 
to  Quinola's  tale  of  his  master's  invention,  seeing  splendid  possibilities 
for  reward  or  theft  in  a  triple  alliance  with  the  two.  Consequently, 
the  man  of  genius  will  face  the  world  with  the  sole  companionship  of 
these  two  dirty  rogues. 

The  persecutions  of  the  inventor  begin.  First,  the  Venetian, 
Brancadori,  like  Potiphar's  wife  of  old,  has  formed  a  sudden  and 
violent  attachment  for  him,  and  with  the  cleverness  of  a  skilled 
courtezan  she  seeks  to  win  his  affections.  She  begins  her  campaign 
with  a  bit  of  evil  advice  to  Marie,  trying  to  convince  the  pure-minded 
girl  that  she  is  a  hindrance  to  her  lover's  work,  and  that  her  most 
noble  act  of  assistance  would  be  to  marry  Sarpi,  or  to  retire  to  a 

!»  LEt.,  Vol.  II,  p.  5.    January  11,  1842. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  75 

convent.     Scorned  by  Fontanares  as  a  common  harlot,  the  clever 
woman  is  determined  more  than  ever  to  bring  down  her  prey. 

In  the  third  act  we  are  taken  into  the  workshop  of  Fontanares, 
where  we  see  the  guileless  inventor  surrounded  and  protected  by  his 
mysterious  band  of  rogues,  Quinola,  of  course,  at  their  head.  The 
man  of  genius  has  fallen  grievously  in  debt  to  a  Jewish  money-lender, 
and  has  been  forced  to  share  his  discovery  with  him.  This  partner- 
ship the  Jew  has  sold  to  an  idiotic  fellow  named  Don  Ramon  who 
passes  himself  off  in  the  world  as  a  savant.  But  the  faithful  valet 
by  certain  questionable  schemes  has  succeeded  in  establishing  his 
master's  credit,  thereby  postponing  any  immediate  disaster.  Ill- 
luck,  however,  continues  to  pursue  the  inventor,  and  in  the  next  act 
we  see  him  on  a  public  square  of  Barcelona,  where  sundry  parts  of 
his  steamboat  are  being  auctioned  off,  appealing  to  the  grandees  of 
Spain  in  the  name  of  their  sovereign  to  protect  him.  Brancadori, 
the  temptress,  now  offers  to  take  the  poor  man  to  Venice  where  his 
persecutions  would  be  at  an  end  and  his  triumph  assured.  But  her 
renewed  seductions  are  again  vigorously  repulsed  by  Marie's  lover. 
In  the  meanwhile,  the  time  allotted  by  the  king  for  the  experiment 
draws  to  a  close,  and  the  boat  has  not  been  built.  Fontanares  now 
faces  not  only  disgrace,  but  death.  However  the  wits  of  the  valet 
have  not  been  idle.  Quinola,  in  some  unheard-of  manner,  has  been 
able  to  construct  with  Monipodio's  aid  two  steamboats  after  his  mas- 
ter's plans.  Seeing  the  danger  in  Monipodio's  future  activity, 
Quinola  has  contrived  to  have  his  companion  deported  anew  to 
Africa.  Fontanares  is  saved,  and  all  Barcelona  assembles  on  the 
harbor  front  to  see  the  spectacle.  But  the  honor  of  the  invention 
is  to  go  to  another,  to  Don  Ramon,  whose  funds  the  real  inventor 
has  been  forced  to  employ.  Fontanares,  a  ruined  man,  now  cherishes 
merely  the  hope  of  defeating  his  enemies.  Quite  unexpectedly  a 
means  of  revenge  presents  itself,  but  it  is  Monipodio,  disgraced  by 
his  fellow  rogue  and  bent  upon  retaliation,  who  brings  this  about: 

L'enfer  nous  a  ramene,  je  ne  sais  comment,  Monipodio  altera  de  vengeance;  il  est 
dans  le  navire  avec  une  bande  de  demons,  et  va  le  couler  si  vous  ne  lui  assurez  dix  miUe 
sequins.  1^ 

With  a  cry  of  defiance,  Fontanares  commands  Quinola  to  see  that 
Monipodio  carries  out  to  the  letter  his  fiendish  scheme,  and  in  view 
of  all  Barcelona  the  boat  is  sunk.     With  this  disaster  comes  the  news 

"  Act  V,  scene  4. 


76  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONOR^  DE  BALZAC 

of  Marie's  death,  and  the  inventor  turns  for  solace  to  Brancadori, 
the  magnificent  instrument  of  his  ruin  and  destruction,  as  he  calls 
her,  the  woman  who  has  taught  him  what  a  world  of  self-interest  and 
ruse  and  perfidious  scheming  this  really  is. 

The  construction  of  this  comedy  is  a  striking  example  of  Balzac's 
feverish  workmanship  in  a  field  where  the  marks  of  unskilled  labor 
and  awkwardly-handled  tools  are  visible.  He  did  not  at  this  time 
understand  the  construction  of  a  play.  We  are  bewildered  by  the 
mass  of  documentary  detail,  the  detached  scenes  and  the  unnecessary 
dialogue  with  which  the  play  is  overcharged.  Opening  with  a  long 
prologue,  which  serves  merely  to  present  the  contrast  between 
the  brilliancy  of  the  Spanish  court  and  the  sombreness  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion, the  play  drags  through  thirteen  scenes  of  confused  exposition 
before  the  action  really  begins.  We  are  finally  told  that  we  are  to 
witness  a  duel  between  Fontanares  and  his  age,  with  Quinola  as  a 
second;  whereupon  we  are  prepared  to  witness  the  opening  scenes 
of  this  duel.  Before  this,  however,  we  have  the  inventor  revealed 
in  the  chains  of  the  Inquisition,  talking  in  tedious  phrases  about 
"Archimede  et  moi,"  and  about  "Galilee,  mon  maitre;"  we  have  an 
interview  between  Fontanares  and  the  king,  where  the  former  talks 
wearily  about  science,  while  the  grand  inquisitor  interrupts  with 
information  about  Luther  and  the  invention  of  printing.  Nearly 
the  whole  of  the  first  act  is  still  devoted  to  the  exposition  of  character 
— Quinola  and  Monipodio  talking  at  great  lengths  about  the  lineage 
of  Brancadori,  and  discussing  the  most  intimate  family  details  about 
Lothundiaz.  The  act  is  devoid  of  any  real  action,  and  with  the 
exception  of  one  cumbersome  love  scene,  in  which  Fontanares 
declares  his  undying  constancy  to  Marie,  it  has  no  importance.  The 
interest  of  the  second  act  centers  not  so  much  about  Fontanares  and 
Quinola  as  about  the  mistress  of  old  Don  Fregose.  It  is  Brancadori's 
act — that  is  to  say,  Mme  Dorval's,  since  the  role  was  especially 
prepared  for  this  actress.  Act  III  contains  the  best  and  the 
worst  that  there  is  in  the  play.  The  realistic  setting,  displaying 
the  inventor  at  work,  Quinola's  quaint  advice  about  love,  and  his 
vulgarly  comic  scene  with  the  false  savant,  Don  Ramon,  stand  out 
against  the  worn-out  melodramatic  elements  which  were  the  undoing 
of  Vautrin,  the  tiresome  scientific  discussions,  the  rapid  and  bewilder- 
ing use  of  disguises,  the  gradual  culmination  of  Fontanares'  misery 
and  the  undramatic  ending.  Finally,  after  the  scenes  of  la  Branca- 
dori's seduction,  the  improbable  and  unexpected  climax  is  reached. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  77 

Fontanares,  who  has  experienced  unsurmountable  difficulties  in 
constructing  his  boat,  learns  that  Quinola  and  Monipodio  at  the 
same  time,  and  unaided  by  him,  have  built  two.  How  this  could 
come  about  we  are  not  told.  In  fact,  the  intrigue  now  assumes  the 
most  improbable  and  confusing  proportions.  We  reach  the  fifth 
act,  an  act  which  Gautier  might  easily  have  been  parodying  when  he 
wrote:  "O  cinquieme  acte,  tant  reve,  que  j'ai  poursuivi  si  opini^tre- 
ment  a  travers  toute  la  prose  de  la  vie."^^  Monipodio,  who  has  been 
sent  back  to  the  galleys,  is  suddenly  needed  again.  His  reappear- 
ance is  unwarranted,  yet  he  is  able  to  board  the  boat  whose  trial  trip 
is  being  made — how,  we  are  at  a  loss  even  to  guess —  and  sinks  it. 
This  action  is  utterly  unjustified  and  unnatural. 

Turning  from  the  construction  to  the  style  of  Quinola,  we  find 
the  most  shocking  abuse  of  romantic  license,  Balzac  has  apparently 
not  been  intimidated  by  Vautrin,  for  he  has  not  allowed  the  galley 
convicts  who  formerly  haunted  the  salons  of  the  illustrious  Duke  de 
Montsorel  to  rest.  Quinola,  a  valet,  who  might  have  inherited  some 
of  the  sparkling  wit  of  his  illustrious  ancestors,  the  Scapins  and  the 
Figaros,  is  made  to  talk  like  the  most  detestable  of  Vautrin's  rogues. 
"Je  suis  comme  Jesus-Christ,  entre  deux  larrons,"  he  says,  or  again: 
"L'on  parle  du  premier  amour!  Je  ne  connais  rien  de  terrible  comme 
le  dernier,  il  est  strangulatoire."^^  ■  Is  it  Quinola,  or  Vautrin,  who 
declares:  ''En  attendant  un  marquisat  et  une  famille,  je  me  nomme 
Quinola."?^^  Sometimes  the  phrases  are  heavy  and  without  wit: 
*'Cet  homme  m'inquiete!  il  me  parait  posseder  mieux  la  mecanique 
de  I'amour  que  Tamour  de  la  mecanique,"^^  or  again:  "Sangodemi, 
il  est  si  rare  de  faire  honnetement  sa  fortune  et  celle  de  TEtat,  sans 
rien  prendre  aux  particuliers,  que  le  phenomene  merite  d'etre  favor- 
ise."^®  Balzac  has  attempted  to  lend  to  his  character  both  cynicism 
and  sparkling  wit.  Quinola  has  a  certain  gross  cynicism,  but  his 
wit  is  often  lacking. 

Fontanares,  making  love  or  discussing  science,  utters  phrases 
which  range  in  tone  from  the  most  flamboyant  to  the  most  prosaic. 
Brancadori  also,  whom  we  wish  to  see  the  one  really  strong  figure  of 
the  comedy,  speaks  an  emphatic  language  which  is  far  removed  from 

^2  Les  Jeunes-France,  p.  170. 
^' Act  I,  scene  1. 

15  Act  I,  scene  17. 
*•  Prologue,  scene  6. 


78  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

reality.     The   following   passage   will   illustrate   the   feebleness   of 
Balzac's  style: 

Fatistine:  Ne  me  demens  point,  Alfonse!  j'ai  tout  conquis  de  toi,  ne  me  refuse  pas 
ton  ccEur!  tu  n'auras  jamais  d'amour  plus  d6vou6,  plus  soumis  et  plus  intelligent;  tu 
seras  le  grand  homme  que  tu  dois  ^tre. 

Fontanares:  Votre  audace  m'6pouvante.  (//  montre  la  lettre)  Avec  cette  somme, 
je  suis  encore  seul  arbitre  de  ma  destinee.  Quand  le  roi  verra  quelle  est  mon  oeuvre, 
et  ses  resultats,  il  fera  casser  le  mariage  obtenu  par  la  violence,  et  j'aime  assez  Marie 
pour  attendre. 

FausHne:  Fontanares,  si  je  vous  aime  foUement,  peut-etre  est-ce  k  cause  de 
cette  d^licieuse  simplicity,  le  cachet  du  genie.  .  .  . 

Fontanares:    Elle  me  glace  quand  elle  sourit. 

FausHne:    Cet  or,  le  tenez-vous? 

Fontanares:    Le  voici.  .  .  . 

Faustine:  Sans  or,  que  pourrez-vous?  Votre  lutte  reconmience!  Mais  ton  ceuvre, 
grand  enfant  In'est  pas  dispers^e,  elle  est  a  moi.  .  .  . 

Fontanares:     Comment,  c'est  toi,  Venitienne  maudite?  .... 

Faustine:  Oui.  .  .  Depuis  que  tu  m'as  insultee,  ici,  j'ai  tout  conduit  .  .  .  Mais 
combien  d'amour  dans  cette  fausse  haine!  N'as-tu  done  pas  6t6  r6veill6  par  une 
larme,  la  perle  de  mon  repentir,  tomb6e  de  mes  paupieres,  durant  ton  sommeil,  quand 
je  t'admirais,  toi,  mon  martyr  adore  !^^ 

In  the  main,  Balzac  is  trying  to  adapt  his  style  to  two  opposed 
* 'genres"  which  he  mingles  in  the  play,  the  "comedie  larmoyante" 
and  the  "comedie  burlesque."  The  former  style  suggests  romanti- 
cism at  its  worst;  the  latter,  the  over-exercised  tricks  of  Robert 
Macaire. 


In  presenting  his  inventor-hero  to  the  theatre  public,  Balzac  has 
been  faithful  to  the  romantic  conception  of  a  man  of  genius.  Fonta- 
nares is  unhappy,  inexorably  pursued  by  fate,  a  mournful  and  de- 
pressed figure  of  disordered  genius,  turning  like  a  child  from  one  toy 
to  another,  and  petulantly  threatening  to  destroy  the  most  precious  of 
them  all.  Like  the  romantic  hero  also,  he  is  filled  with  a  soul- 
inspiring  ardor.  What  makes  the  character  uninteresting,  however, 
is  Balzac's  painting  of  it.  To  put  such  a  figure  on  the  stage  a  gift 
of  poetry  is  needed,  and  Balzac  has  no  poetry  at  his  disposal.  His 
hero  speaks  an  emphatic  and  conventional  language:  when  he  talks 
of  science,  he  is  tiresome;  when  he  talks  of  love,  he  is  ridiculous. 
Balzac  has  no  fitting  language  in  which  to  express  his  hero's  soul- 
combats,  his  hesitations,  his  struggles,  consequently  the  character 

"  Act  IV.  scene  16. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  79 

is  unreal  and  psychologically  unsound.  Fontanar^s  is  not  a  type 
from  Balzac's  world  of  monomaniacs,  all  of  whose  defeats  are  made 
so  poignantly  plain  or  futile  through  struggle.  Balthazar  Claes 
struggles  and  suffers,  and  we  are  witness  to  his  gradual  attrition  of 
mind  and  body.  He  inspires  our  pity  because  he  drags  down  with 
him  a  noble  woman.  Fontanares,  guided  by  Quinola,  and  weakly 
protesting  against  the  wiles  of  Brancadori,  is  but  a  mediocre  creation. 
His  final  defiance  of  society,  coming  as  it  does  at  the  end  of  a  waver- 
ing career,  has  none  of  the  terrible  force  in  it  that  is  inspired  by 
Rastignac's  words  htirled  in  the  face  of  Paris.  Balzac  had  already 
in  his  novels  given  dramatic  force  to  the  plight  of  his  man  of  genius, 
and  Avaloros'  bloodless  proposal  to  Fontanares  had  already  been 
addressed  by  Claparon  to  Cesar  Birotteau: 

Quand  rhomme  a  id6es  a  rencontr6  quelque  bonne  affaire,  Thomme  d'argent  lui 
donne  alors  une  tape  sur  I'epaule  et  lui  dit:  "Qu'est-ce  que  c'est  que  ga?  Vous  vous 
mettez  dans  la  gueule  d'un  four,  mon  brave,  vous  n'avez  pas  les  reins  assez  forts;  voili 
mille  francs,  et  laissez-moi  mettre  en  scene  cette  affaire."^^ 

Balzac's  inventor  is  not  true  to  life,  and  the  dramatist  did  wrong 
when  he  attempted  to  recreate  a  character  of  fiction  which  his  genius 
as  story  teller  was  better  fitted  to  produce. 

In  1831,  Hugo  presented  his  first  drama  dealing  with  the  courte- 
zan in  love,  and  Madame  Dorval  created  the  role  of  Marion  Delorme. 
This  actress,  who  became  so  immensely  popular  in  the  Hugo  drama, 
was  Balzac's  inspiration  for  Faustine  Brancadori. ^^  A  descendant 
of  a  noble  Venetian  family,  whose  ideal  of  love  is  that  of  Petrarch 
for  Laura,  young,  clever  and  a  coquette,  such  is  the  character  of 
Balzac's  heroine,  the  mistress  of  the  Catalonian  viceroy.  She  is  the 
ideal  romantic  type  of  the  courtezan,  living  a  life  of  luxury  and 
elegance,  surrounded  by  her  devoted  court  of  men.  Unfortunately 
Balzac  has  made  of  Brancadori  the  same  unconvincing  character 
as  Fontanares.  We  perceive  here  the  same  careless  psychology, 
the  same  faded  lyric  phrases  of  the  melodrama: 

Aimer!  c'est  se  devouer  sans  attendre  la  moindre  recompense;  aimer!  c'est  vivre 
sous  un  autre  soleil  auquel  on  tremble  d'atteindre.  N'habillez  pas  votre  egoisme  des 
splendeurs  du  veritable  amour.  Une  f emme  mariee,  Laure  de  Noves,  a  dit  k  P6trarque : 
"Tuserasa  moi  sans  espoir,  reste  dans  la  vie  sans  amour."     Maisl'Italieacouronn^ 

^*  Cesar  Birotteau. 

^'  The  character  of  Brancadori  was  finally  played  by  Mile  Georges.  See  LEt., 
Vol.  II,  p.  14.     February  22,  1842. 


80  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

I'amant  sublime  en  couronnant  le  poete,  et  les  siecles  5,  venir  admireront  toujours 
Laure  et  P6trarque!2° 

Consider  such  a  metaphor  as  the  following:  "II  est  la,  debout 
comme  un  homme  devant  un  precipice  et  poursuivi  par  des  tigres/'^^ 
Brancadori  defines  hate  as  follows:  ''La  haine  n'est  pas  le  contraire 
de  Tamour,  e'en  est  Tenvers."^  Her  language  is  excessive  and 
unnatural,  characterized  by  none  of  the  poetic  shading  which  makes 
such  a  character  tolerable  on  the  stage.  For  the  type  Balzac  has 
taken  a  well-known  romantic  conception,  sufficiently  invraisemblable 
in  itself,  but  which  could  have  been  made  acceptable  either  by 
careful  psychological  exposition,  or,  as  Hugo  might  have  presented  it, 
clothed  in  lyric  poetry.  Unfortunately,  Balzac  has  put  into  the 
character  neither  the  one  nor  the  other. 

Lothundiaz  represents  the  stock  type  of  the  miser  father,  a  very 
pale  shadow  of  old  Grandet,  just  as  Mathieu  Magis,  the  Lombard 
money-lender,  is  a  pale  shadow  of  Gobseck.  Like  the  latter,^^ 
Magis  has  seen  much  of  the  world,  and  has  learned  to  hate  it.  '*Le 
monde  est  in  juste  a  notre  egard,"  he  says^^  in  the  philosophical  tone 
of  the  Dutch  usurer.  He  is  cautious  like  some  wild  animal,  "un 
beau  chien  de  chasse,"  Brancadori  calls  him.^^  Like  Gobseck  also, 
who  is  not  averse  to  the  beauty  of  old  Goriot's  daughter,  Magis 
declares:  "Mon  petit  commerce  est  alimente  par  les  grandes 
passions:  belle  femme,  belle  prime. "^^ 

Quinola,  the  intriguing  valet  of  Fontanares,  is  the  combined 
type  of  rascality  and  devotion.  With  the  gaiety  of  Figaro,  the 
rouerie  of  Scapin  and  the  poorness  of  Job,  as  Celler  describes  him,^^ 
he  maintains  throughout  a  remarkable  devotion  to  his  master,  and 
finally  perfects  the  invention  which  the  world's  defeats  have  with- 
held from  the  inventor.  He  stands  in  opposition  to  all  the  other 
characters  of  the  play.  He  attacks  power  and  wealth,  represented 
in  Don  Fregose  and  Avaloros;  he  attacks  the  shallow  science  of 
Don  Ramon,  the  religious  zeal  of  the  Inquisition,  the  avarice  of 
Lothundiaz.     Balzac  has  made  this  rogue  the  most  honest  man  in 

20  Act  II,  scene  10. 
2»  Act  IV,  scene  16. 

22  Act  IV,  scene  7. 

23  Gobseck  is  dated  Paris,  1830. 
2*  Act  II,  scene  22. 

^Ibid. 
26  75^. 

27 1^^  Valets  au  thidtre,  1875,  p.  89. 


THE  DRAMA  OP  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  81 

the  play,  and  also  the  most  practical.  He  is  meant  to  represent  the 
modern  spirit  awakening  in  an  age  of  prejudice  and  ignorance.  The 
character  represents  in  a  measure,  however,  the  deliberate  and  over- 
done grotesque  of  Hugo,  lacking  the  poignant,  lyric  and  exceedingly 
human  note  which  makes  the  fool  in  King  Lear  a  really  great  figure. 
Quinola,  like  Vautrin,  is  a  former  galley  slave  whose  real  name  is 
Lavradi,  a  bandit  in  rags  who  is  none  the  less  versed  in  the  ways  of 
the  court;  who  associates  with  his  former  companions  of  the  galleys, 
and  finds  his  sole  consolation  in  the  good  cheer  of  the  bottle.  Yet 
this  same  dirty  and  disreputable  fellow,  mirabile  dictu,  knows  how  to 
address  the  most  powerful  monarch  of  Europe  in  fitting  phrases! 
This  association  with  the  thieves  of  the  underworld  is  hardly  recon- 
cilable with  the  devotion  of  an  honest  servant.  In  Quinola  we  find 
again  the  psychology  of  romanticism  and  the  conventional  type  of 
"bon  criminel."  We  allow  a  certain  amount  of  good  and  evil  to  all 
men,  but  to  depict  the  same  character  at  one  time  faultless,  at  another 
steeped  in  all  that  is  wicked  and  perverse,  without  transitions  or 
intermediary  moral  stages,  is  to  depart  seriously  from  reality. 

Like  Scapin,  Quinola  is  resourceful,  but  unlike  Moliere's  creation, 
he  is  detestable  because  of  the  taint  of  the  criminal  about  him.  Like 
Figaro,  he  is  the  ''intrigant"  and  the  "insolent,"  the  man  of  talent, 
but  Figaro  is  no  former  convict:  his  dishonesty  is  confined  rather  to 
love  intrigues.  In  fact,  rascality  is  the  sum  total  of  existence  for 
Scapin  and  Figaro;  they  delight  us  with  their  sparkling  wit  and  their 
devotion  to  young  lovers,  while  Quinola,  the  mocker,  the  irreverent, 
the  evil-counsellor,  who  is  meant  to  represent  the  soul  of  the  common 
people  and  to  preach  a  lesson  of  devotion  to  the  grandees,  remains 
none  the  less  a  second  Vautrin,  a  figure  of  the  underworld,  whose 
discourse  is  stained  with  thieves'  jargon,  and  whose  wit  is  directed 
against  all  that  is  held  sacred  and  pure. 

To  Robert  Macaire  the  melodramatists  gave  a  Bertrand;  to 
Vautrin  Balzac  gave  a  Lafouraille.  In  like  manner,  Quinola  is 
seconded  by  Monipodio.  This  character  Balzac  has  borrowed  from 
the  Rinconete  y  Cortadillo  of  Cervantes,  a  realistic  character  sketch 
of  Seville,  contained  in  the  author's  Novelas  ejemplares,  and  published 
for  the  first  time  in  1613.  The  Novelas  had  a  great  vogue  in  France, 
and  Balzac  probably  knew  the  adaptations  made  by  Florian,  pub- 
lished in  1787.  In  Cervantes'  story,  Monipodio,  an  ill-favored 
barbarian,  tall  and  swarthy,  is  the  president  of  an  organized  guild  of 
assassins  and  pickpockets,  a  thief  ready  to  "serve  God  and  honest 


82  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

people,"  who  makes  his  gang  give  something  of  everything  they 
steal  to  charity.  Balzac  has  made  of  the  character  a  sort  of  police 
guardian  to  Fontanares,  familiar  with  the  haunts  of  thieves,  ready 
to  serve  in  any  dishonest  business.  The  figure  is  dull  and  uninterest- 
ing, lacking  the  vulgar  wit  of  Lafouraille  and  Bertrand. 


In  Quinola  the  two  essential  traits  of  the  romantic  drama  are 
present:  lyricism,  and  the  use  of  local  color  and  history.  The 
lyricism  of  the  play  is  revealed  first  in  the  heroic  proportions  which 
the  author  has  given  to  the  love  scenes.  Fontanares  is  thoroughly 
a  romantic  hero.  For  him  Marie  is  always  a  protecting  star.  To 
her  he  cries:  "Vous  etes  mon  etoile,  brillante  et  loin  de  moi."^^  As 
Marie  signals  to  him  from  her  window,  he  exclaims:  **Mais  elle 
m'aime.  .  .  .  Tiens,  vois,  mon  etoile  brille."2»So  Romeo  had  cried 
out  in  the  moonlight  beneath  the  windows  of  the  Capulets,  and  so 
many  other  romantic  heroes  had  expressed  their  emotion.^"  Fon- 
tanares speaks  of  love  as  *'cette  foi  humaine,  qui  rallume  le  courage 
quand  il  va  s'eteindre  sous  la  bise  de  la  raillerie."^^  Like  a  hero 
of  the  Romantic  School  he  rants  also  about  his  pride  and  honor: 
"Brillant  et  pur  amour  par  qui  je  me  rattache  au  ciel  pour  y  puiser 
Tesperanceet  la  foi;  vous  venez  de  sauver  mon  honneur,"  he  cries  to 
Marie  as  she  saves  him  from  the  hands  of  the  alguazils.^^  "Tuez-moi, 
ne  me  calomniez  pas:  vous  etes  place  trop  haut  pour  descendre  si 
bas,"  he  exclaims  to  Don  Fregose.^' 

The  comedy  is  moreover  lyric,  since  under  the  biting  satire  on 
genius  we  discover  the  dramatist  himself  speaking.  It  is  an  echo 
of  real  personal  grief  that  the  author  has  expressed  in  the  words  of 
Fontanares:  ^'O,  mon  Dieu!  le  talent  et  le  crime  seraient-ils  done 
une  meme  chose  a  tes  yeux?"^*  The  satire  is  personal,  and  beneath 
it  we  discern  the  misfortunes  of  Honore  de  Balzac,  man  of  genius,  in 

28  Act  I,  scene  19. 

29  Act  I,  scene  17. 

'°  "She  speaks;  O  speak  again,  bright  angel." — Romeo  and  Juliet,  Act  II,  scene  2. 
"Let  her  shine  as  gloriously  as  Venus  of  the  sky." — Midsummer  Night's  Dream, 
Act  II,  scene  2. 

"Dona  Sol,  viens  briller  comme  un  astre dans Tombre !" — Hernaniy  Act ll,scene  1. 

31  Act  IV,  scene  2. 

32  Act  IV,  scene  3. 

33  Act  IV,  scene  2. 

34  Act  III,  scene  8. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  83 

debt  and  hounded  by  creditors,  calumniated  by  the  press  and  mis- 
judged by  the  public.  Like  Ruy  Bias's  appeal  to  the  grandees, 
Fontanares  (Balzac)  cries  out  to  the  crowd: 

O  grands  de  la  terre,  riches,  vous  tous  qui  tenez  en  vos  mains  un  pouvoir  quel- 
conque,  pourquoi  done  en  faites-vous  un  obstacle  a  la  pensee  nouvelle?^ 

When  Balzac  wrote  Quinola,  there  was  a  bitterness  in  his  heart 
more  keen  than  at  any  period  of  his  life.  He  was  still  resentful  over 
the  storm  and  ignominy  of  his  first  play.^^  But  there  was  also 
another  cause  for  his  indignation.  Less  than  four  months  after  his 
novel,  la  Transaction  {Colonel  Chahert),  had  appeared  in  V Artiste^ 
a  vaudeville  was  manufactured  from  it  without  the  author's  permis- 
sion.^^ This  literary  theft,  together  with  a  borrowing  of  an  episode 
from  his  Medecin  de  campagne  by  VEurope  litUraire^^  inflamed 
Balzac  to  such  an  extent  that  he  wrote  his  energetic  Lettre  aux 
Scrivains  franqais  du  XIX'  Steele,  which  appeared  in  la  Revue  de 
Paris,  November  1833,  urging  men  of  letters  to  bind  themselves 
together  into  a  society  for  mutual  protection,  so  that  united  they 
might  overcome  the  injustice  which  meant  death  to  individual 
genius.  The  result  of  this  instigation  was,  as  we  know,  the  founda- 
tion in  1833  of  a  Societe  des  Gens  de  Lettres,  organized  for  the 
purpose  of  inspiration  and  protection.  Balzac  was  admitted  to 
membership  in  1838,  never  having  allied  himself  with  the  organiza- 
tion before  that  date.^*  Immediately  upon  entering  the  society, 
Balzac  drew  up  a  code  litteraire,  setting  forth  rules  for  the  protection 
of  authors.  His  defense  of  men  of  genius  had  been  expressed  else- 
where. Before  writing  Quinola,  he  had  already  depicted  the  sufferings 
of  creative  genius  in  le  Chef-d'oeuvre  inconnu  (1831),  in  la  Recherche 
de  Vahsolu  (1834),  and  in  Gambara  (1837).  David  Sechard,  written 
at  the  same  period  as  Quinola,  also  describes  the  cruel  defeats  of  a 
young  inventor  at  the  hands  of  knavish  "gens  d'affaires."  Quinola 
then,  was  but  another  personal  protest,  another  stage  in  this  struggle 
against  leagued  derision  and  hatred.  The  play  might  easily  have 
borne  on  its  title  page  the  satirical  words  of  Voltaire : 

*  Act  IV  scene  2. 

^  See  LEL,  Vol.  II,  p.  14.     February  22,  1842. 

^'  La  Transaction  ceased  to  appear  on  March  13,  1832.  Colonel  Chahert,  a  drame 
vaudeville  in  two  acts  by  Arago  and  Lurine,  was  produced  at  the  Th^^tre  du  Vaude- 
ville, July  2,  1832. 

'*  See  letter  to  Mme  Hanska,  dated  August  1,  1833. 

3'  See  Louis  de  Royaumont,  Balzac  et  la  societe  des  gens  de  lettres,  1913. 


84  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

Le  plus  grand  malheur  d'un  homme  de  lettres  n'est  pas  d'etre  I'objet  de  la  jalousie 
de  ses  confreres,  la  victime  du  mepris  des  puissants  du  monde,  c'est  d'etre  jug6  par 
des  sots>° 

The  theft  of  Fontanares'  discovery,  *'le  vol  le  plus  honteux  qui  se 
puisse  consommer  a  la  face  du  ciel  et  d'un  pays,"^^  and  the  injustice 
that  he  suffers  from  the  greed  and  ignorance  and  hatred  of  the 
Spanish  court,  are  the  personal  sufferings  of  the  author.  Conse- 
quently, we  have  a  lyric  hero  and  a  picaresque  valet  who  voice 
Balzac's  own  satirical  and  pent-up  feelings. 

The  use  of  history  and  local  color  which  is  found  in  Quinola 
is  by  no  means  an  innovation  of  Balzac.  Since  the  beginning  of  the 
century  in  fact  these  had  been  one  of  the  most  marked  traits  of 
comedy  and  drama.  Balzac  is  following  the  vogue  of  the  historical 
play  prophesied  by  Mme  de  Stael,'*^  and  followed  out  by  Lemercier, 
Delavigne  and  Hugo.  Dumas,  under  the  influence  of  Walter  Scott, 
had  produced  in  1829,  a  year  before  Hernani,  his  Henri  III,  a  series 
of  immense  tableaux  with  a  historic  and  picturesque  background, 
lengthy  dramatis  personae  and  numerous  local  allusions.  The 
Spanish  setting  for  comedy  and  drama  had  had  an  immense  vogue 
before  Balzac  composed  Quinola.  Pixerecourt's  Maures  d'Espagne 
(1804),  a  dramatization  of  Florian's  Gonzalve  de  Cor  done,  which 
Balzac  had  read,  and  whose  "epic  pretentions"  he  mentions  in  la 
Revue  parisienne,*^  was  given  more  than  two  hundred  times  in  Paris 
before  1841.  Lemercier's  Finlo,  dating  from  1800,  and  made  so 
popular  at  the  Porte-Saint-Martin  in  1834  by  Bocange,  was  a 
historical  comedy  built  about  the  Portuguese  revolution  of  1640, 
presenting  a  sort  of  political  Figaro,  who  gives  a  kingdom  to  his 
master.  Calderon  and  Lope  de  Vega  both  furnished  the  French 
dramatists  with  sources."*^     In  1830,  Hugo's  Hernani  and  Delavigne's 

*^DicHonnaire  philosophique, 

*^  Act  IV,  scene  3. 

^  "La  tendence  naturelle  du  si^cle,  c'est  la  trag6die  historique." — De  VAllemagne, 
II,  chap.  15. 

"Si  le  drame  historique  se  vidait  de  I'int^r^t  qui  s'attache  au  pass6,  il  trouverait 
encore  une  ample  matiere  dans  la  peinture  des  moeurs  et  des  passions  rajeunies  par  la 
revolution  et  elev6es  au  ton  de  la  po6sie  par  I'^pop^e  de  I'Empire." — Ibid. 

«  (Euvres,  Vol.  XXIII,  p.  600. 

**  In  1824,  Scribe  wrote  the  libretto,  with  M^lesville,  to  a  lyric  drama  based  on 
Cervantes'  Fuerza  de  la  sangre,  entitled  LSocadie,  Theatre  de  I'Opera-Comique, 
November  24,  1824,  music  by  Auber.  Charrin's  melodrama,  le  Rapt,  ou  amour, 
honneur,  et  devoir,  was  imitated  from  the  Spanish  of  Calderon,  produced  first  at  the 
Ambigu-Comique,  in  1815.  Le  Cid  d'Andalousie,  by  Lebrun,  Th6atre  Frangais,  March 
1,  1825,  was  imitated  from  Lope  de  Vega. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  85 

Ruy  Gomez  were  produced  on  the  same  night.  That  same  year  Dorval 
and  Lemaitre  were  appearing  in  Feblo,  le  jardinier  de  Valence,  while 
Don  Carlos,  a  tragedy  in  five  acts  by  Talabot,  was  being  played  -at 
the  Theatre  Franfais.'*^  Henri  de  Latouche's  Reine  d'Espagne  was 
acted  first  at  the  same  theatre  on  November  5,  1831,  and  undoubt- 
edly influenced  Hugo  to  some  extent  when  he  came  to  write  Ruy  Bias. 
One  year  later,  the  name  Quinola  was  given  by  Musset  to  a  valet  in 
his  fantastic  comedy,  A  quoi  revent  les  jeunes  filles.^  The  fanaticism 
of  Philip  II,  "le  roi  devot,"  the  same  king  who  was  soon  to  interest 
Balzac,  was  made  the  subject  of  Delavigne's  Don  Juan  d^Autriche*'^ 
In  1836,  Dumas  produced  a  "mystere"  in  five  acts  and  innumerable 
tableaux,  called  Don  Juan  de  Mar  ana;  the  following  year,  an  "opera- 
comique"  in  three  acts,  laid  at  Seville,  called  Piquillo}^  Finally, 
in  1838,  we  come  to  Ruy  Blas.*^ 

History  is  used  as  a  background  for  Quinola,  with  a  certain 
amount  of  vivid  local  color.  In  the  preface  to  his  play,  dated  April  2, 
1842,  Balzac  tells  us  that  the  basis  for  his  plot,  namely  the  steamboat 
invention  in  the  XVIth  century,  is  a  historical  fact,  mentioned  in 
Arago's  treatise  on  steam  engines,  published  in  V Annuaire  du  bureau 
des  longitudes}'^  Arago  cites  a  curious  note  contributed  by  the 
director  of  the  royal  archives  of  Simancas  to  the  Correspondance 
astronomique  of  Baron  de  Zach  and  published  in  1826,  which  reads 
as  follows: 

Blasco  de  Garay^  capitaine  de  mer,  proposa,  I'an  1543,  a  Tempereur  et  roi  Charles- 
Quint,  une  machine  pour  faire  aller  les  batiments  et  les  grandes  embarcations,  m^me 
en  temps  de  calme,  sans  rames  et  sans  voiles. 

Malgr6  les  obstacles  et  les  contrari^tes  que  ce  projet  essuya,  I'empereur  ordonna 
que  Ton  en  fit  Texp^rience  dans  le  port  de  Barcelone,  ce  qui  effectivement  eut  lieu  le 
jour  17  du  mois  de  juin  de  ladite  annee  1543. 

Garay  ne  voulut  pas  faire  connaitre  entierement  sa  d6couverte.  Cependant  on 
vit,  au  moment  de  I'epreuve,  qu'elle  consistait  dans  une  grande  chaudiere  d'eau  bouil- 
lante  et  dans  des  roues  de  mouvement  attachees  a  I'un  et  a  I'autre  bord  du  bS.timent. 

On  fit  I'exp^rience  sur  un  navire  de  200  tonneaux,  appele  la  Triniti,  arriv6  de 
Colibre  pour  decharger  du  ble  a  Barcelone,  capitaine  Pierre  de  Scarza. 

^  Hernani  and  Ruy  Gomez,  both  produced  on  February  25;  PeWo,  May  4, 
Ambigu;  Don  Carlos,    December  11. 

^Published  December,  1832,  in  a  volume  entitled  Un  Spectacle  dans  un  fauteuil. 

*''  Comedy  in  five  acts,  October  17,  1835,  Th6&tre  Frangais. 

**  Don  Juan  de  Marana,  April  30,  Porte-Saint-Martin;  Piquillo,  October  31,  Op6ra- 
Comique. 

*^  November  8,  Renaissance. 

^"Dominique  Francois  Jean  Arago,  1786-1853.  His  Notice  historigue  sw  les 
machines  d  vapeur  was  published  in  1829. 


86  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

Par  ordre  de  Charles-Quint,  assisterent  k  cette  experience  don  Henri  de  Tolede, 
le  gouverneur  don  Pierre  de  Cardona,  le  tresorier  Ravago,  le  vice-chancelier  et  I'inten- 
dant  de  la  Catalogne.  .  . 

Dans  les  rapports  que  Ton  fit  k  I'empereur  et  au  prince,  tous  approuverent  g6n6- 
ralement  cette  ingenieuse  invention,  particulierement  a  cause  de  la  promptitude  et  de 
la  facilite  avec  laquelle  on  faisait  virer  de  bord  le  navire. 

Le  tresorier  Ravago,  ennemi  du  projet,  dit  qu'il  irait  deux  lieues  en  trois  heures, 
que  la  machine  etait  trop  compliquee  et  trop  couteuse,  et  que  I'on  serait  expose  au 
p^ril  que  la  chaudiere  eclat^t.  Les  autres  commissaires  assurerent  que  le  navire 
virait  de  bord  avec  autant  de  vitesse  qu'une  galere  manoeuvree  suivant  la  methode 
ordinaire,  et  faisait  une  lieue  par  heure,  pour  le  moins. 

Lorsque  I'essai  fut  fait,  Garay  emporta  toute  la  machine  dont  il  avait  arm6  le 
navire;  il  ne  deposa  que  les  bois  dans  les  arsenaux  de  Barcelone,  et  garda  tout  le  reste 
pour  lui. 

Malgre  les  oppositions  et  les  contradictions  faites  par  Ravago,  I'invention  de 
Garay  fut  approuv6e,  et  si  I'expedition  dans  laquelle  Charles-Quint  6tait  alors  engag6 
n'y  eut  mis  obstacle,  il  I'aurait  sans  doute  favoris^e. 

Avec  tout  cela,  I'empereur  avanga  I'auteur  d'un  grade,  lui  fit  un  cadeau  de  200,000 
maravedis,  ordonna  a  la  Tresorerie  de  lui  payer  tous  les  frais  et  depenses,  et  lui  accorda 
en  outre  plusieurs  autres  graces.^* 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  citation,  which  Arago  regarded 
as  scientifically  and  historically  unimportant,  what  pretentious  use 
Balzac  has  made  of  the  document.  In  the  preface  to  his  play  the 
author  declares : 

Parmi  cinquante  faiseurs  de  feuilletons,  il  n'en  est  pas  un  seul  qui  n'ait  trait6 
comme  une  fable,  inventee  par  I'auteur,  le  fait  historique  sur  lequel  repose  cette  piece 
des  Ressources  de  Quinola. 

Longtemps  avant  que  M.  Arago  mentionn^t  ce  fait  historique  dans  son  Histoire 
de  la  Vapeur,  publiee  dans  VAnnuaire  du  bureau  des  Longitudes,  I'auteur,  k  qui  le  fait 
6tait  connu,  avait  pressenti  la  grande  comedie  qui  devait  avoir  precede  I'acte  de  descs- 
poir  auquel  fut  pouss6  I'inventeur  inconnu.  .  . 

Balzac  has  taken  no  more  care  than  Hugo  or  Dumas  in  his  recon- 
struction of  history,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  historical  and  local 
allusions  are  constantly  put  to  the  fore.  The  local  color  is  super- 
ficial, nor  has  the  author  carefully  studied  Spanish  history.  We 
are  given  merely  external  details,  while  there  has  been  no  attempt 
to  delineate  the  psychology  of  the  Spanish  people  or  to  reconstruct 
Spanish  society. 

The  elaborate  setting  of  the  prologue  in  the  gallery  leading  to 
the  chapel  of  the  king's  palace,  with  the  crowd  of  guards  and  noble- 

"  The  fourth  edition  of  la  Notice  historique  sur  les  machines  d  vapeur  is  published 
in  Volume  V  of  les  (Euvres  computes  of  Arago,  Paris,  Gide  et  J.  Baudry,  1854-9, 
16  volumes. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  87 

men,  alcaldes  and  courtiers,  recalls  at  once  the  opening  setting  of 
Ruy  Bias.  The  interior  of  Fontanares'  workshop,  with  its  confusion 
of  wheels,  test-tubes,  kettles,  mathematical  instruments,  with  even 
the  humble  fare  of  the  poor  inventor  detailed  by  scenic  indications; 
the  final  act  on  the  terrace  of  the  city  hall,  with  its  view-of  the  spark- 
ling sea  and  the  Barcelona  shipping  in  the  background,  the  colorful 
costumes  of  the  immense  crowd  which  is  to  witness  the  destruction 
of  the  steam-propelled  boat — all  suggest  the  exacting  mise  en  scene 
demanded  by  the  romanticists,  and  expecially  by  Pixerecourt  and 
the  melodramatists.^2  In  Dumas'  A-lchimiste^^  the  scenes  just 
mentioned  had  already  been  identically  reproduced  :  an  underground 
laboratory  where  Fasio,  the  alchemist,  accused  of  black  art  and 
persecuted  by  the  rich  and  powerful,  conducts  his  experiments; 
and  a  public  square  before  the  courtezan  Maddelena's  house,  where 
the  wife  of  the  alchemist  pleads  for  his  life. 

Another  romantic  trick,  well  practised  already  in  Vautrin,  is  the 
use  of  disguises.  Quinola  and  Monipodio  are  bewildering  in  their 
rapid  changes,  successively  in  rags  and  silks.  Here  the  trick  is 
overworked  and  inartistic. 

Balzac  has  chosen  for  the  period  of  action  of  his  play  that  which 
Dumas  has  used  in  his  greatest  historical  drama,  transferring  it, 
however,  to  Spain  and  to  the  court  of  Philip  11.^^  In  a  letter  to 
Mme  Hanska,  dated  January  5,  1842,  Balzac  says  that  the  action 
occurs  in  1560.^  The  definitive  edition  of  the  plays — Calmann- 
Levy,  1879,  Volume  XX — dates  the  action  as  1533,  an  evident  mis- 
take which  has  been  corrected  in  the  Centenary  edition  to  1588.^^ 
While  the  author  has  introduced  several  incongruous  historical 
references,  the  events  in  the  main  are  chronologically  correct.  At 
the  opening  of  the  play  news  is  brought  of  the  destruction  of  the 
Spanish  Armada,  which  occurred  of  course  in  1588.  "La  France  est 
en  feu,  les  Pays-Bas  en  pleine  revoke,  Calvin  a  remue  I'Europe," 

*2  See  especially  Pixerecourt's  Christophe  Colomh,  and  his  Robinson  Crusoe. 

"  Drama  in  five  acts  and  in  verse,  Renaissance,  April  10,  1839. 

"  Balzac  had  found  Philip  II  an  interesting  and  fascinating  figure,  speaking  of 
him  at  various  times  in  his  work.  See  expecially  the  preface  to  the  first  edition  of  la 
Femme  superieure,  la  Maison  Nucingen  and  la  Torpille,  dated  September  15,  1838. 
(Euvres,  Vol.  XXII,  p.  505. 

^  LEL  Vol.  I,  p.  574. 

^  (Euvres  completes  de  Honors  de  Balzac.  Edition  du  centenaire.  Thedtre, 
2  vol.  Calmann-Levy. 


88  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

says  the  grand  inquisitor,^^  and  these  pressing  events  turn  the  king's 
mind  from  the  inventor.  In  1588,  France  was  actually  in  a  state  of 
upheaval,  leading  up  to  the  famous  ''journee  des  barricades,"  when 
the  king  was  nearly  dethroned,  and  to  the  assassination  of  the  Duke 
de  Guise  the  same  year.  The  Netherlands  had  recently  risen  in 
revolt  and  declared  William  of  Orange  stadhouder,  seeking  protection 
against  the  king  and  his  Inquisition.  The  Reformation  was  stirring 
all  Europe,  and  France  especially,  where  the  Huguenots  had  strength- 
ened themselves  since  the  bloody  Saint  Bartholemew  in  1572.  The 
references  in  the  play  to  Galileo  are  out  of  keeping  with  the  other 
events,  since  he  was  not  born  until  1564,  and  did  not  become  a 
suspect  of  the  Inquisition  until  after  1633,  when  his  treatise  on 
astronomy  was  denounced  as  heretical.  Fontanares,  a  former  pupil 
of  Galileo,  declares  that  his  master  is  now  lying  in  prison,  and  likens 
his  own  fate  to  that  of  the  greater  man  of  genius.  The  reference 
which  Brancadori  makes  to  an  incident  about  Catherine  de  Medici 
and  Diane  de  Poitiers,  which  she  says  ''occurred  the  other  day,"^^ 
is  also  misplaced,  since  at  the  moment  Henry  II's  mistress  was  dead, 
and  Catherine  herself  dying. 


In  Quinola  we  find  all  the  important  romantic  elements  which  the 
contemporaries  of  Balzac  were  emphasizing:  the  use  of  a  picturesque 
and  quasi-historical  background  for  the  action;  an  excess  of  local 
color,  of  tableau  effects,  of  disguises  and  costuming;  a  lyric  hero, 
with  a  picaresque  rogue  for  a  companion;  a  conventional  courtezan 
and  a  pathetic  heroine,  misused  by  the  world;  with  all  this,  a  certain 
looseness  of  dramatic  construction  and  an  appendage  of  unnecessary 
scenes.  We  search  in  vain  for  some  trace  of  the  careful  realism  which 
is  to  be  found  in  the  Human  Comedy.  The  characters  are  romantic 
conceptions,  lacking  the  fine  shading  which  reality  demands;  the 
technical  and  characteristic  detail  which  Balzac  considered  so 
necessary  to  reinforce  his  ''idee  dominante"  is  merely  superficial. 
The  importance  which  is  given  to  financial  matters  is,  moreover, 

*^  Act  V,  scene  5.     Compare  Schiller's  Don  Carlos,  Act  I,  scene  6: 

"Die  Pest 
Der  Ketzerei  steckt  meine  Volker  an, 
Der  Aufruhr  wachst  in  meinen  Niederlanden." 
Compare  also  Hernani,  Act  V,  scene  1 : 

"L'empereur  aujourd'hui 
Est  triste.     Le  Luther  lui  donne  de  I'ennui." 
**  Act  II.  scene  9. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  89 

inserted  here  without  preconceived  realistic  intention.^^  Preoccupied 
constantly  with  money,  Balzac  is  unable  to  withold  his  exact  figures 
from  us,  but  their  interest  in  this  comedy  is  rather  autobiographical 
than  realistic. 

The  conception  of  Quinola  is  one  which  lacks  neither  truth  nor 
grandeur.  The  play  is  a  pungent  bit  of  personal  satire  on  science 
and  talent,  but  the  conception  is  novelistic  and  its  theme  belongs 
more  properly  to  realm  of  fiction,  where  our  interest  may  wander  far 
afield  with  the  author  into  history  and  science,  and  where  we  may 
turn  back  to  reread  the  pages  at  will.  The  theme  lacks  room  for 
development  on  the  stage,  while  the  comedy  is  effaced  by  the  multi- 
tude of  incidents  which  are  lacking  in  dramatic  importance.  Placed 
upon  the  stage,  with  its  events  of  pure  fantasy,  with  its  intermingling 
of  the  heroic  and  the  burlesque,  with  its  picture  of  thieves  consorting 
with  grandees,  and  vice  triumphant,  the  play  stands  without  ideal, 
and  fails.  The  author  must  surely  have  realized  this  hirnself,  when, 
rebelling  against  the  inconsistencies  and  lack  of  reality  in  the  Hugo 
drama,  he  cried  out:     "Victor  Hugo  n'est  pas  vrai!"®° 

Balzac's  exaggerated  account  to  Mme  Hanska  of  the  reception 
of  Quinola  by  the  public  is  interesting: 

Quinola  a  6t6  I'objet  d'une  bataille  m6niorable,  semblable  a  celle  d'Hernani. 
On  est  venu  siflfler  toute  la  piece,  d'un  bout  jusqu'  a  I'autre  sans  vouloir  I'entendre,  pen- 
dant sept  representations  consecutives.  Aujourd'hui,  nous  sommes  k  la  dix-septieme 
representation,  et  I'Od^on  fait  de  I'argent.  .  .  .  Vous  lirez  quelque  jour  cette  pi^ce, 
fruit  de  tant  d'efEorts  et  de  travaux.  .  .  .  Maintenant  tous  mes  ennemis,  et  ils  6taient 
en  grand  nombre,  se  sont  ru6s  sur  moi  a  propos  de  Quinola.  Tous  les  joumaux,  k  deux 
exceptions  pres,  se  sont  mis  a  m'injurier  et  a  calomnier  la  piece,  k  qui  mieux-mieux.*' 

The  critics,  almost  without  exception,  were  bitter.®^  RoUe, 
writing  for  le  National,  alone  seems  to  have  found  place  for  a  kind 
word  or  two.     He  writes: 

'^  There  are  countless  references  to  money  and  to  specific  sums  in  the  play.  Marie 
has  10,000  sequins  income.  Lothundiaz  talks  of  a  revenue  from  a  property  worth 
2,000  crowns,  and  quotes  it  in  exact  figures.  Fontanares  needs  2,000  crowns  to  continue 
his  work.  Brancadori's  picture  gallery  has  cost  her  lover  nearly  his  whole  fortune,  and 
the  old  man  can  think  of  no  prettier  compliment  to  pay  his  mistress  than  to  say:  "Ma 
fortune  vaut-elle  une  de  vos  paroles?"  Fontanares,  in  his  horrible  predicament,  finds 
that  his  whole  future  depends  upon  money,  and  the  strength  of  Brancadori's  argu- 
ments rests  in  her  words:     "Sans  or,  que  pourrez-vous?"  etc.,  etc. 

«°  LEL,  Vol.  II,  p.  125.    March  19,  1843. 

«'  Ibid.,  pp.  22  and  23.    April  8,  1842. 

82  See  especially  Jules  Janin  in  le  Journal  des  debais,  March  21,  1842. 


90  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

II  y  a  de  grandes  erreurs  et  de  grandes  fautes  dans  la  piece,  mais  il  y  a  aussi  des 
traits  comiques,  spirituels  et  quelquefois  profonds  que  je  souhaite  a  certains  f euilletons 
qui  se  pr6parent  a  I'insulter  avec  la  plus  charmante  gaiety  et  la  plus  agr6able  fureur." 

The  criticism  in  the  monthlies  was  no  less  severe.  Thierry, 
writing  in  la  France  litter  aire,  April  3,  1842,  after  a  bitter  attack  on 
Balzac  and  his  novels,  speaks  as  follows  of  the  play: 

Des  entrees,  des  sorties,  trois  tableaux  dans  le  prologue,  mille  lambeaux  de  scenes 
d^cousues,  recousues,  rapprochees,  rapiecees  gaetU;  des  cloches,  des  processions;  des 
gens  qui  se  rencontrent  ou  ils  ne  devraient  pas  se  rencontrer,  qui  disent  ce  qu'ils  ne 
devraient  pas  dire,  qui  font  ce  qu'ils  ne  devraient  pas  faire,  un  pere  qui  regarde  tou jours 
quelque  chose,  afin  de  ne  pas  g^ner  sa  fille  dans  des  situations  fort  delicates,  des  machines 
qu'on  ne  peut  pas  construire  faute  d'argent,  et  qui  se  trouvent  toutes  construites  dans 
un  coin  par  deux  fripons,  une  explosion,  un  couronnement,  le  saint  office,  des  propheties, 
des  oracles,  la  reclame  predite  sous  Philippe  II,  et  la  revolution  de  juillet,  annoncee 
par  un  in^quisiteur,  rapportez  done  cela,  si  vous  pouvez,  quand  tous  ces  fragments  ont 
cherche,  quatre  heures  durant  a  se  rapprocher,  sans  pouvoir  y  parvenir? 

G.  de  Molenes,  in  la  Revue  des  deux  mondes,^  confines  himself  espec- 
ially to  the  creation  of  Quinola,  comparing  the  character  to  Vautrin, 
of  which  he  declares  it  to  be  but  a  reminiscence: 

Le  heros  deM.de  Balzac,  c'est  le  heros  de  Beaumarchais,  moins  le  brillant  costume 
du  corps  et  celui  de  la  pensee;  sur  son  corps,  les  honteux  haillons  qui  ont  longtemps 
excite  la  risee  des  spectateurs  du  boulevard,  le  feutre  perce,  le  pourpoint  dechir^  et 
crasseux,  remplacent  le  chapeau  enrubanne,  la  veste  etincelante  de  boutons  du 
joyeux  barbier  de  I'Andalousie;  sur  sa  pensee,  les  lambeaux  de  la  langue  fletrie  et 
deformee  que  I'habitude  d'ecrire  de  gros  livres  a  la  h^te  a  faite  aux  romanciers  de  ce 
temps-ci,  remplacent  les  pimpans  atours  de  la  langue  coquette  et  degagee  du  Huron 
et  de  Candide.  .  .  .    Dans  ce  qui  regarde  Quinola,  I'oeuvre  de  M.  de  Balzac  n'est  pas 

«  March  21,  1842. 

"  April,  1842.  This  attack  called  forth  an  article  in  la  Revue  litter  aire  et  critique, 
April  15,  defending  Balzac  against  the  bitter  critics.  The  author  of  the  article  says 
in  part: 

"En  g6neral,  c'est  un  triste  spectacle  que  de  voir  un  illustre  nom  se  d^populariser 
peu  k  peu  et  tomber  graduellement  du  sommet  d'une  haute  renommee  aux  injurieux 
d^dains  d'une  foule  obscure  et  envieuse. 

Mais  lorsqu'une  pareille  chute  n'est  provoqu6e  par  rien,  ou  qu'elle  arrive  tout  h. 
coup  a  la  suite  d'une  erreur  ou  d'un  seul  faux  pas,  on  ne  sait  si  Tauteur  ainsi  pr6cipite 
doit  etre  plaint,  ou  s'il  ne  faut  pas  mepriser  celui  qui  vient  I'outrager  jusque  dans  sa 
defaite.  II  faut  le  dire,  c'est  II,  pr6cis6ment  ce  qu'ont  fait  la  plupart  des  critiques  qui 
se  sont  empares  de  la  comedie  de  M.  de  Balzac.  Apres  I'avoir  siffl^e  au  the5.tre,  ils* 
I'ont  immolee  dans  les  colonnes  de  leurs  f euilletons;  ils  se  sont  fait  une  arme  de  chacun 
de  ses  lambeaux,  et  ils  ont  lecer6  tout  k  leur  aise  les  autres  productions  de  cet  6crivain. 

Est-ce  la  noblement  agir,  et  la  reputation  litteraire  de  M.  de  Balzac,  inattaqu6e 
jusqu'alors  dans  son  ensemble,  doit-elle  sufErir  d'une  pareille  injustice  et  p6rir  tout 
entiere  au  milieu  d'une  semblable  persecution?" 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  91 

autre  chose  que  Figaro,  moins  I'esprit  d'observation  et  la  verve  comique  de  Beaumar- 
chais;  dans  ce  qui  regarde  Fontanares,  le  maitre  de  Quinola,  c'est  Chatterton,  moins 
la  distinction  profonde,  le  sens  delicat  et  6lev6  deM.de  Vigny. 

In  his  preface,  which  the  author  tells  us  is  "d'une  douceur  ang61i- 
que,"^^  Balzac  defends  his  play  on  the  following  points: 

1.  The  background  for  his  plot,  namely  the  steamboat  invention 
in  the  XVIth  century,  is  a  historical  fact  mentioned  in  a  treatise  on 
steam,  published  in  the  Annuaire  du  bureau  des  longitudes  by  Arago. 

2.  None  of  the  analyses  of  his  play  made  by  the  critics  has  been 
correct,  and  the  press  has  failed  to  see  that  Quinola,  whom  they 
consider  a  hideous  creation,  is  a  criminal  pardoned  by  the  king's 
grace  for  perhaps  a  very  slight  offence. 

3.  The  title  of  the  Duke  de  Neptunado,  which  the  king  promises 
to  Fontanares,  is  in  keeping  with  historical  facts  of  the  time,  when 
titles  were  wont  to  recall  the  circumstances  for  which  they  were 
awarded.  Gross  ignorance  has  caused  the  public  and  the  critics  to 
misjudge  the  author's  purpose  in  introducing  this  bit  of  history. 

4.  Balzac  defends  his  unsuccessful  first  performance  before  an 
audience  of  paying  spectators  on  the  ground  that  he  wished  a  repre- 
sentative pubHc  and  independent  judges.  He  accu-es  his  public, 
moreover,  of  lack  of  good  faith  and  justice,  and  of  cruelty,  mentioning 
the  names  of  Gozlan,  Hugo,  Lamartine  and  Mme  de  Girardin  as  the 
persons  who  have  showed  him  a  great  measure  of  kindness;  mention- 
ing also  the  benevolent  attitude  of  a  few  newspapers  which  were  not 
altogether  hostile:  le  Commerce j  le  Messager  and  la  Patrie: 

Pour  caracteriser  les  critiques  faites  sur  cette  comedie,  il  suffira  de  dire  que,  sur 
cinquante  journaux  qui  tous,  depuis  vingt  ans,  prodiguent  au  dernier  vaudevilliste 
tomb6  cette  phrase  banale:  La  piece  est  d'un  homme  d' esprit  qui  saura  prendre  sa 
revanche,  aucun  ne  s'en  est  servi  pour  les  Ressources  de  Quinola,  que  tous  tenaient  & 
enterrer.     Cette  remarque  suffit  k  I'ambition  de  I'auteur.®* 

«  LEt.,  Vol.  II,  p.  32. 

««  Preface  to  Quinola,  dated  April  2,  1842. 


VI 
PAMELA  GIRAUD 

Vice  triumphs  in  Quinola,  and  the  curtain  falls  on  disillusion, 
defeat  and  shattered  ideals.  With  Pamela  Giraud,  however,  virtue 
shines  forth  boldly  in  every  scene,  and  the  air  is  alive  with  the  sen- 
timental expression  of  it. 

Pamela  Giraud^  a  drama  in  five  acts,  was  produced  for  the  first 
time  on  September  26,  1843,  at  the  Theatre  de  la  Gaiete,  the  home 
of  the  melodrama.  The  play  was  published  the  same  year  by 
Marchant,  one  volume  in-8.^  At  the  moment  of  the  first  performance 
Balzac  was  in  Russia,  and  seems  to  have  been  little  occupied  with 
its  outcome.  The  performance  caused  none  of  the  agitation  or 
attention  in  the  literary  world  that  Quinola  smdVautrin  had  produced. 
^* Pamela  Giraud  se  repetait  sans  bruit,  et,  chose  plus  singuliere  encore, 
sans  indiscretions,"  writes  Amedee  Achard  in  le  Courrier  franqais 
for  October  9,  1843.  Undoubtedly  a  reason  for  this  was  that  Pamela^ 
a  very  plain  and  ordinary  melodrama,  was  built  along  conventional 
lines,  differing  little  from  the  typical  production  of  the  day.  Another 
reason  was  no  doubt  the  fact  that  the  author,  whose  personality 
dominated  both  behind  and  before  the  footlights  of  his  previously 
produced  plays,  the  public  which  had  been  stirred  by  a  Vautrin  on 
the  stage  and  by  Lemaitre's  bold  interpretation,  the  critics  who 
had  launched  out  into  tirades  of  indignation  over  the  composition 
of  Quinola,  and  laughter  over  the  author's  eccentricities,  all  treated 
this  new  production  with  coolness  and  indifference.  Balzac  on  the 
stage,  moreover,  was  becoming  no  unusual  thing.  Besides  the  two 
productions  already  given,  numerous  adaptations  of  his  novels  had 
been  made  and  produced  with  success  at  Paris:  le  Colonel  Chaberty 
Eugenie  Grandet,  la  Duchesse  de  Langeais,  le  Pere  Goriotj  la 
Grande  Breteche,  les  Ckouans,  la  Recherche  de  Vabsolu,  Cesar  Birot- 
teau,  le  Medecin  de  campagne,  VHistoire  des  treize.  Balzac's  name 
then  was  not  unfamiliar  on  the  theatrical  boards. 

When  the  play  was  written,  we  do  not  know.  Amedee  Achard, 
writing  in  le  Courrier  franqais,  says  that  it  was  offered  to  a  "theatre 
de  vaudeville"  in  1837  or  1838,  and  was  refused: 

C'est  d'ailleurs  une  etrange  histoire  que  celle  de  cette  Pamela  Giraud.  Presentee, 
dit-on,  et  refusee,  il  y  a  cinq  ou  six  ans,  a  un  theatre  de  vaudevilles,  elle  s'est  promen6e 

^  Lovenjoul,  Histoire  des  centres  de  Balzac,  p.  222. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  93 

au  travers  de  tout  Paris,  la  pauvre  fille  abandonn^e,  cherchant  quelque  directeur 
charitable  qui  voulM  bien  donner  asile  a  son  infortune.^ 

During  the  years  1837  and  1838  Balzac  was  occupied  with  the 
stage  solely  as  a  means  of  paying  off  his  pressing  debts,  and  he  talks 
a  great  deal  about  proposed  plays.  In  February  of  1837,  he  began 
r£cole  des  menages.  In  September  of  the  same  year  it  is  a  question 
of  Joseph  Frudhomme,^  to  be  written  for  the  Theatre  Fran^ais.  A 
survey  of  the  plans  for  this  play  reveals  fugitive  traces  of  the  melo- 
drama which  was  later  to  resolve  itself  into  Pamela  Giraud.  Pamela, 
in  the  proposed  Prudhomme  play,  is  the  daughter  of  a  poor  janitor, 
who  has  a  love  affair  with  a  young  man  who  later  deserts  her  and 
whose  child  she  calls  Adolphe,  doubtless  for  its  father.  In  1838,  while 
traveling  in  Corsica,  Balzac  read  for  the  first  time  Richardson's 
Pamela  J  or  Virtue  Rewarded,^  and  found  the  book  "horriblement 
ennuyeux  et  bete."  Nevertheless,  Richardson's  heroine,  who  is  the 
soul  of  virtue  itself,  resisting  the  most  violent  of  temptations  and 
in  the  end  rewarded,  arrested  Balzac's  attention  to  the  extent  that 
he  enlarged  a  bit  on  his  story  of  the  janitor's  daughter,  Pamela, 
later  to  become  the  wealthy  Prudhomme's  wife,  and  made  her  the 
heroine  of  a  virtuous  melodrama.^ 

In  1838,  neither  Quinola  nor  Vautrin  had  been  written,  and 
Balzac  felt  that  he  was  a  timid  beginner,  with  the  critics  and  the 
public  against  him.  He  consulted  his  friends  on  every  occasion 
about  his  plays.  In  rEistoire  du  theatre  contemporain,  Royer  recounts 
that  on  one  occasion  in  a  circle  of  friends  Balzac  remarked  quite 
seriously: 

Mes  amis,  j'ai  termine  bientot  mon  monument  de  la  Comidie  humaine;  je  vais 
bdtir  en  regard  un  autre  edifice  qui  le  completera,  je  veux  6crire  un  theatre.  Mais, 
comme  on  ne  manquerait  pas  de  trouver  mes  pieces  d^testables  si  Ton  savait  que  j'en 

2  October  9,  1843. 

3  See  supra,  pp.  24-26. 

*  LEL,  Vol.  I,  p.  471.     April  1,  1838.     Richardson's  Pamela  was  published  in  1740. 

^  Several  stage  versions  of  Richardson's  novel  were  made  in  France  during  the 
latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  two  most  important  being:  De  Boissy, 
Pamila,  ou  la  vertu  mieux  eprouvee,  comedy  in  three  acts,  Theatre  Italien,  May  4,  1743; 
La  Chauss6e,  Pamela,  comedy  in  five  acts,  Comedie  Frangaise,  December  6,  1743. 
Voltaire's  Nanine,  comedy  in  three  acts,  Theatre  Frangais,  June  16,  1789,  also  treats 
the  same  well-worn  theme.  In  this  latter  comedy,  we  note  certain  elements  which 
Balzac  has  also  utilized  in  his  melodrama:  two  lovers,  one  rich  and  impulsive,  the 
other  poor  and  of  humble  station;  an  overbearing  member  of  the  aristocracy  in  whom 
riches  have  stifled  goodness;  a  virtuous  and  unjustly  accused  heroine;  a  defense  of  the 
innate  goodness  of  poor  people. 


94  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONOR^  DE  BALZAC 

suis  I'auteur,  je  prie  Tun  de  vous  de  consentir  k  signer  pour  moi,  au  moins  les  premiers 
ouvrages.^ 

During  all  this  early  play- writing  period,  the  striking  facts  to 
remember  about  his  activity  are:  that  he  had  not  the  time  for  a  task 
which  he  ranked  subordinate  to  novel  writing,  yet  conceived  as  being 
the  only  solution  to  pressing  financial  troubles;^  that  he  did  not  at 
that  time  understand  the  composition  of  a  play;*  and  finally,  that 
he  was  turning  over  in  his  mind  quantities  of  scenic  plans.  Among 
them,  no  doubt,  was  the  drama,  Pamela  Giraud,  which,  in  its  primi- 
tive state,  was  offered  to  some  theatrical  manager  and  refused,  and 
which  was  thereupon  laid  away  until  it  could  be  turned  over  to 
certain  "gens  de  profession"  and  remodeled.  In  July  of  1843 
Balzac  went  to  Russia  for  a  few  months*  rest,  mentally  and  physically 
worn.^  It  was  during  this  visit  that  the  play  was  accepted  by  the 
Gaiete  and  produced. 

In  the  published  correspondence  there  is  little  or  no  mention  of 
the  present  play:  no  discussion  of  it  to  Mme  Hanska,  whom  the 
author  consulted  about  so  many  of  his  dramatic  schemes;  no  request 
for  encouragement  from  the  sympathetic  sister,  Laure.  After  the 
first  moments  of  despair  over  Vautrin,  Balzac  turned  his  attentions 
feverishly  to  three  other  plays,  and  sought  in  vain  to  have  them 
accepted  by  some  theatre.  The  actor,  Lemaitre,  turned  down  two 
of  them,  Richard  Cceur-d'eponge^^  and  Mercadety^^  while  on  July  3, 
1840,  the  dramatist  wrote  to  Mme  Hanska: 

Ah!  chere,  vous  ne  savez  pas  ce  que  c'est,  apres  avoir  fait  quinze  volumes  en 
quinze  mois,  de  faire  seize  actes  de  pieces  de  th6S,tre,  conune  PamSla  Giraud,  Vautrin, 
Mercadet,  inutilement,  car  il  n'y  a  plus  d'espoir  de  faire  rouvrir  la  Porte-Saint-Martin. 
Les  proces  qui  se  bataillent  sur  ce  cercueil,  emp^chent  tout.  Les  Frangais  ferment 
pour  trois  mois  pour  se  rafralchir.  La  Renaissance  est  morte.    H  n'y  a  pas  un  th6&tre 

«  Vol.  V,  1878,  p.  152. 

'  "Je  me  suis  tromp6  dans  mes  6valuations  de  dettes.  On  m'a  donn6  cinquante 
mille  francs  ;il  m'en  faut  encore  quatorze  mille,puis  sept  mille  pour  une  garantie  impru- 
demment  donn6e  pour  Werdet.  Mais  je  sens  que  le  theatre  et  deux  belles  ceuvres  me 
sauveraient.  II  faut,  pour  faire  deux  pieces,  me  cacher  en  un  lieu  desert,  inconnu,  oH 
personne  ne  me  sache."     LEt.  Vol.  I,  p.  374.     December  27,  1836. 

*  While  composing  V&cole  des  minages,  the  author  writes  in  1838  to  Mme  Zulma 
Carraud:  "J'attends  quelque  succes  au  theitre;  mais  je  n'ai  pas  encore  eu  le  temps 
de  m6diter  les  pieces,  ou  de  les  ex6cuter  comme  je  voudrais  les  voir."    Corr.,  p.  308. 

»LE/.,  Vol.  II,  p.  184. 

"  lUd.,  Vol.  I,  p.  536.    May  10,  1840. 

>^  Ihid.,  p.  540.    June,  1840. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONOr£  DE  BALZAC  95 

otL  Fr6d6rick  puisse  jouer.    J'ai  tente  le  Vaudeville,  dans  sa  nouvelle  salle;  mais  le 
directeur  n'a  pas  le  sou.^^ 

The  following  lines  were  addressed  to  Mme  Hanska  nearly  a 
month  after  the  first  performance : 

A  propos  d'accident,  Pamela  Giraudy  qui  porte  mon  nom,  n'a  pas  6t6  port6e 
par  mon  nom;  elle  est  tomb6e,  k  ce  que  je  vols,  et  vous  voyez  qu'alors  V affaire  a  €t6 
tres  bonne  pour  moi.  Des  que  je  serai  de  retour,  j'expliquerai  le  fait  par  une  pi^ce  oH 
je  ne  me  contenterai  pas  de  livrer  mon  id6e  a  des  faiseurs.  Je  viens  de  lire  le  f euilleton 
du  Courtier  Franqais;  il  n'est  ni  bien  ni  mal,  mais  il  entre  dans  les  questions  anti- 
litteraires  de  I'argent  et  de  la  paternity  douteuse,  tandis  qu'il  salt  probablement 
I'affaire  telle  qu'elle  est.^^ 

This  statement  seems  to  indicate  that  Balzac  furnished  merely 
the  subject  and  the  plan,  leaving  the  actual  construction  of  the 
play  to  collaborators.  The  fact  of  the  matter  is  as  follows:  the 
complete  play  in  five  acts,  as  it  is  printed  in  the  Calmann-Levy 
edition  of  the  works,  was  written  by  the  hand  of  Balzac,  and  is  iden- 
tical with  the  original  manuscript  which  is  in  the  Lovenjoul  collection 
at  Chantilly.  The  original  work  by  Balzac,  however,  overcharged 
with  scenes  and  awkwardly  handled  action,  was  turned  over  for 
readjustment  to  professional  dramatists  before  the  actual  stage  pro- 
duction.^^ Gautier,  writing  in  la  Pres^e,  October  2,  1843,  notes  this 
collaboration  as  follows: 

II  [Balzac]  y  a  tellement  r6ussi,  qu'il  ne  serait  pas  impossible  que  la  doloire  etla 
bisaigiie  d'un  charpentier  6m6rite  aient  ajust^  et  rabot6  les  poutres  de  son  6difice 
dramatique. 

This  work  of  arrangement  was  given  to  two  melodramatists. 
Bayard  and  Jaime,  professionals  who  had  already  lent  their  assistance 
in  the  adaptation  of  three  of  the  novels. ^^  The  play  as  considered  in 
this  chapter  is  the  original  work  conceived  by  Balzac  before  the 
polishers'  tools  had  touched  it.^® 

i«Z,£/.,Vol.  I,p.  543. 

^3/H(f.,  VolII,  p.  199. 

^*  See  LEt.,  Vol.  II,  p.  199,  editor's  note:  *' Pamela Giraud  avait  6t6  arrang6e  par 
MM.  Bayard  et  Jaime,  mais  le  manuscrit  original  complet  existe  de  la  main  de  Balzac." 
See  also,  le  Constitutionnel,  August  25,  1851;  le  Courrier  franqais,  October  9,  1843. 

^  La  Fille  de  Vavare  adapted  from  Eugenie  Grandet,  by  Bayard  and  Paulin,  Gym- 
nase,  January  7,  1835;  A  -{-Mz=0+Xf  ou  le  rive  d'un  savant,  adapted  from  la  Recherche 
de  I'absolu,  by  M.  X.  (Buyard  and  Bi6ville),  Gymnase,  November  11,  1837;  le  Pere 
Goriot,  by  Theaulon,  Comberousse  and  Jaime,  Vari6t6s,  April  6,  1835. 

^*  On  January  28,  1917,  Pamela  Giraud  was  revived  at  the  Odeon.  An  interesting 
review  of  the  play  is  to  be  found  in  VOpinion,  February  3,  1917,  by  J.  Ernest-Charles. 


96  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

The  action  of  the  play  takes  place  in  1815,  after  the  second 
return  of  the  Bourbons.  The  son  of  a  rich  banker  has  been  drawn 
into  an  imperialistic  plot  against  the  government,  moved  by  ambi- 
tion rather  than  political  preference  to  serve  a  power  "higher  up." 
A  former  officer  of  the  first  Empire,  a  certain  General  de  Verby,  is 
the  real  promoter  of  this  conspiracy,  and  has  promised  Jules  Rousseau 
a  brilliant  future,  as  well  as  the  hand  of  his  niece,  if  the  plot  is  carried 
through  successfully.  Jules'  thoughts  have  been  somewhat  turned 
from  conspiring  by  the  graces  of  a  pretty  girl,  a  maker  of  artificial 
flowers,  whom  he  has  met  on  various  occasions  at  evening  outings  at 
Belleville.  Pamela  Giraud's  affection  for  Jules  is  very  real,  and  by 
means  of  it  she  has  aroused  the  jealousy  of  a  faithful  upholsterer's 
apprentice,  Joseph  Binet  by  name,  whom  she  has  promised  to  marry. 
Jules  has  been  suspected  of  plotting  against  the  government,  and  at 
the  opening  of  the  play  he  is  pursued  by  the  police.  He  comes  to 
Pamela's  modest  work-room  to  seek  shelter,  and  to  urge  the  girl  to 
flee  with  him  from  Paris.  But  Binet,  the  jealous  rival,  overhears 
the  lovers,  and  denounces  Jules  to  the  police.  At  the  end  of  the 
first  act  Jules  is  led  away  to  prison,  charged  with  conspiracy. 

From  the  humble  attic  of  the  Girauds  we  now  pass  to  the  fashion- 
able home  of  Jules'  parents,  and  we  learn  something  further  about 
the  conspiracy  with  which  the  son  of  the  family  is  charged.  We  are 
first  presented  to  the  Rousseaus:  a  pompous  father  and  a  tender, 
feeble-willed  mother;  Rousseau's  sister,  Mmedu  Brocard,  a  rich  and 
arrogant  grande  dame,  who  is  determined  that  her  nephew  shall 
marry  the  niece  of  de  Verby;  de  Verby  himself,  a  friend  and  counseller 
of  the  family;  also  Jules'  lawyer,  Dupre,  a  misanthrope  who  is 
vainly  searching  Parisian  society  for  an  honest  and  upright  man. 
As  the  case  is  discussed,  Dupre  does  not  conceal  from  the  family 
the  seriousness  of  Jules'  position,  but  at  the  same  time  he  has  begun 
secretly  to  suspect  de  Verby  of  an  intimate  connection  with  the 
selfsame  plot,  and  is  determined  to  watch  him.  In  order  to  save 
the  youth,  an  alibi  must  be  furnished.  The  scheme  which  Dupre 
conceives  is  none  other  than  to  have  Pamela  swear  in  court  that  the 
night  on  which  Jules  is  accused  of  conspiring  was  spent  with  her. 
This  defense  meets  instantly  with  the  approval  of  the  Rousseaus 
who  agree  to  silence  the  virtuous  Pamela's  protests  with  ample 
pecuniary  reward.  The  mother  of  Jules  alone  sees  in  such  a  sacrifice 
a  more  fitting  reward  for  the  girl  whom  her  son  adores. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONOR^  DE  BALZAC  97 

In  the  third  act,  the  advance  guard  has  already  hastened  to  the 
Giraud's  home,  and  before  Dupre  is  able  to  make  a  diplomatic 
proposal  of  his  scheme,  Mme  du  Brocard  and  de  Verby  have  already 
outrageously  bargained  with  Pamela  to  sell  her  good  name  for  gold. 
The  disgust  which  the  honest  girl  expresses  and  the  anger  of  her 
humble  parents  break  down  before  the  stronger  and  more  humane 
arguments  of  Dupre.  Pamela  finally  agrees  to  commit  perjury  in 
order  to  save  her  lover.  Again  the  promises  of  money  are  renewed, 
while  Mme  Rousseau  alone  declares  that  she  will  receive  the  honest 
girl  as  her  son's  wife.  But  the  conspirators  have  reckoned  without 
the  jealous  Joseph.  Concealed  in  the  room,  he  has  overheard  the 
scheme,  and  threatens  to  reveal  everything  in  court. 

Pamela  keeps  her  promise,  however,  and  Joseph  fails  in  his,  for 
in  the  fourth  act  Jules  comes  up  for  trial,  and  Joseph,  fascinated  by 
Dupre's  eloquence  or  by  Rousseau's  promise  of  money,  corroborates 
the  story  fabricated  at  the  expense  of  Pamela's  honor.  We  are  now 
in  the  home  of  Mme  du  Brocard,  situated  within  sight  of  the  Palais. 
Here  the  Rousseaus  are  gathered  as  the  trial  proceeds  a  stone's- 
throw  away.  From  time  to  time  news  is  brought  to  them  from  the 
court-room,  and  we  learn  that  the  trial  is  progressing  well  in  Jules' 
favor.  In  measure  as  their  fears  diminish,  the  Rousseaus  regain 
their  former  arrogance.  The  father  no  longer  talks  so  glibly  of 
renouncing  half  of  his  fortune  as  a  reward  to  Pamela.  Finally  Jules 
is  acquitted,  and  comes  joyfully  from  the  arms  of  justice  to  claim 
his  savior.  But  he  is  reminded  that  he  is  already  affianced  to  the 
niece  of  General  de  Verby,  and  is  quickly  dispatched  by  his  family 
to  Brussels  for  safe  keeping.  Dupre,  disgusted  with  the  egotism  and 
heartlessness  of  the  Rousseaus,  threatens  to  disclose  the  whole  plot, 
and  to  have  Pamela  arrested  as  a  false  witness.  Instead  of  carrying 
out  his  threat — a  threat  to  be  sure  which  would  involve  the  lawyer 
equally  as  much — Dupre  decides  to  determine  de  Verby's  part  in 
the  conspiracy  and  to  settle  with  the  Rousseaus  by  this  means. 

In  the  last  act,  the  general's  fears  of  being  compromised  lead  him, 
as  well  as  the  Rousseaus,  to  yield  to  Dupre,  and  they  agree  to  leave 
the  question  of  a  wife  to  their  son's  choice.  In  the  meantime 
Dupre,  who  has  deemed  it  wise  to  conceal  Pamela  and  her  family 
in  his  own  house,  has  been  so  struck  with  admiration  for  the  courage 
and  sacrifice  of  the  girl,  that  he  asks  her  to  become  his  wife.  But  the 
ardent  Jules,  chafing  under  his  enforced  exile,  returns,  while  Dupre 
renounces  his  claim  to  the  younger  man.  Thus  virtue  is  rewarded, 
and  Pamela  wins  a  rich  husband. 


98  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

In  the  conception  and  execution  of  this  play,  Balzac  has  succeeded 
better  than  with  Vautrin  and  Quinola.  There  are  no  exceptional 
types  here,  no  embroiled  intrigues,  no  strained  and  unnatural 
situations,  none  of  the  author's  feverish  haste  to  move  his  characters 
on  and  off  stage.  Pamela  Giraud  is  a  melodrama  pure  and  simple, 
and  there  are  the  salient  marks  of  the  melodrama  throughout  the 
composition  of  the  play:  characters  hidden  behind  curtains  and 
conversations  overheard;  frequent  asides,  in  which  the  actors  express 
the  pent-up  feelings  of  their  audience;  a  letter  read  by  the  heroine 
which  hints  at  a  mysterious  danger  pursuing  the  hero.  There  are 
also  violent  bits  of  hurried  dialogue,  tending  to  create  suspense. 
Pamela  is  about  to  yield  to  Jules's  entreaties  to  leave  her  home,  when 
the  latter  cries  out:  "On  monte.  .  .Je  suis  perdu!.  .  .vous  m'avez 
livre!"^^*  With  the  house  surrounded  by  the  police,  Jules  makes  a 
hurried  confession  of  his  love  to  Pamela's  parents,  and  is  accepted. 
There  is  undoubtedly  an  appeal  to  the  pit  in  Giraud's  cry: 

Ma  fille,  notre  tresor,  c'est  la  gloire  de  nos  vieux  jours,  et  vous  voulez  que  nous  la 
d^shonorions!    Non,  madame.    Ma  fille,  c'est  I'espoir  de  mes  cheveux  blancs.^^ 

In  like  fashion  Pamela  addresses  the  Rousseaus: 

Vous  ^tes  venus  ici,  chez  de  pauvres  gens,  et  vous  ne  saviez  pas  ce  que  vous  leur 
demandiez.  .  .  Vous,  madame,  qui  deviez  le  savoir,  quels  que  soient  le  rang,  I'^duca- 
tion,  I'honneur  d'une  femme  est  son  tr6sor!  ce  que  dans  vos  families  vous  conservez 
avec  tant  de  soin,  tant  de  respect,  vous  avez  cru  qu'ici,  dans  une  mansarde,  on  le 
vendrait!  et  vous  vous  ^tes  dit:  "Offrons  de  Tor!  il  nous  faut  I'honneur  d'une  gri- 
sette!"i8 

The  pathetic  situations  are  stressed  to  the  utmost.     Giraud  with 
tearful  voice  thanks  his  daughter's  protector  as  follows: 

Vous.  .  .  le  premier  des  hommes!  ...  Eh  bien!  moi  et  ma  fenmie,  nous  irons 
nous  cacher,  n'est-ce  pas,  la  vieille?  .  .  .  dans  une  campagne  bien  loin!.  .  .  et  le 
dimanche,  a  I'heure  de  la  messe,  vous  direz:  "lis  sont  tous  les  deux  qui  prient  le  bon 
Dieu  pour  moi.  .  .  et  pour  leur  fille."^' 

The  aim  of  the  author  was  to  hold  the  attention  of  the  boulevard 
audience,  and  he  made  use  of  many  wel] -practiced  schemes  to  do  this. 
But  in  the  composition  Balzac  has  exercised  a  vast  amount  of  skill 
in  holding  the  spectators'  attention:  for  example,  the  close  of  the 
third  act,  after  Pamela  has  consented  to  save  Jules,  and  Joseph 

i«»  Act  I,  scene  2. 
"  Act  III,  scene  4. 
»8  Ibid. 
^»  Act  V,  scene  1. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONOR^  DE  BALZAC  99 

threatens  to  reveal  the  whole  affair;  the  skillfully  managed  suspense 
during  the  fourth  act,  when  the  outcome  of  the  trial  hangs  in  a 
balance.  Here  Balzac  has  produced  a  strikingly  dramatic  scene, 
showing  how  the  anxiety  of  the  Rousseaus  over  the  fate  of  their  son 
is  marked  by  their  eager  promises  of  reward;  how  these  promises 
decrease  as  their  anxiety  decreases.  After  Pamela  has  delivered  her 
testimony,  Rousseau  declares:  "Je  n'oublierai  pas  cette  jeune  fiUe; 
elle  avait  I'intention  de  nous  6tre  utile;  elle  peut  passer  a  ma  caisse 
quand  elle  vaudra  pour  toucher  mille  ecus."  No  longer  is  there 
talk  of  sacrificing  half  of  his  fortune,  for  Jules  is  now  safe.  "Cette 
petite  a  ete  charmante  dans  sa  deposition,"  says  the  wealthy  aunt. 
"Allons,  il  faut  etre  juste,  cela  vaut  bien  trente  mille  francs!"  The 
whole  scene  is  excellently  handled,  and  well  worthy  of  the  author  of 
the  Human  Comedy. 

With  the  fourth  act  the  drama  ends,  and  the  remainder  of  the 
play  changes  its  tone  to  that  of  comedy.  Here  Balzac  has  employed 
the  old  stage  artifice  of  hiding  the  characters  one  by  one,  so  that  they 
may  have  the  discomforting  experience  of  hearing  themselves  talked 
about  in  no  amiable  fashion  by  the  others,  and  are  finally  revealed  to 
one  another,  and  are  left  to  wrangle  and  bicker  to  their  heart's 
content. 


The  characters  also  bear  the  stamp  of  the  melodrama:  a  romantic 
lover,  rich  and  in  danger,  who  pleads  with  his  mistress  to  flee  with 
him  to  a  foreign  land;  a  common  girl  who  does  a  noble  deed,  and 
suffers  thereby,  but  is  in  the  end  rewarded;  a  magnanimous  protector, 
whose  heart  is  softened  by  the  girl's  misery;  *'gens  du  monde," 
heartless  and  ridiculous. 

Like  the  heroine  of  La  Chaussee  or  Sedaine,  Pamela  is  sentimental 
and  prone  to  tears,  virtuous  to  the  discredit  of  the  aristocracy  with 
whom  her  lot  is  thrown.  She  is  forced  to  endure  untold  sufferings. 
When  urged  by  her  parents  to  accept  the  hand  of  Joseph,  she  faces 
them  as  Eugenie  Grandet  does  her  miserly  father,  with  defiance: 
"Je  suis  majeure.  .  .maitresse  de  mes  actions."^^  When  she  is 
insulted  by  Mme  du    Brocard,  she  cries  to  the  topmost  gallery: 

'**  Act  I,  scene  3.  Compare  Euginie  Grandet:  "Mon  p^re  je  vous  aime  et  vous 
respecte,  malgre  votre  colere;  mais  je  vous  feral  fort  humblement  observer  que  j'ai 
vingt-deux  ans.  Vous  m'avez  assez  souvent  dit  que  je  suis  majeure  pour  que  je  le 
sache." 


100  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

"Dieu  merci,  je  sais  me  respecter I''^^  Sentimental  also  is  the  sensi- 
tive, high-strung  son  of  the  Rousseaus,  known  to  his  mistress  as 
Adolphe  Durand— "un  joli  nom.  .  .la  moiti6  d'un  roman."^^  Jules 
is  also  a  romantic  lover,  rich,  ardent  and  impulsive: 

Je  vous  aime,  je  suis  riche,  et  nous  ne  nous  quitterons  jamais.^ 
He  is  not  only  the  impulsive  lover,  but  he  is  also  in  grave  danger, 
an  additional  characteristic  of  the  hero  of  the  melodrama. 

Associated  intimately  with  the  Rousseau  family  is  the  General 
de  Verby,  "ancien  oflScier  du  Premier  Empire,"  an  ardent  Bona- 
partist  and  a  brother  of  a  peer  of  France.  Ambitious  and  prudent, 
with  no  sense  of  honor  or  integrity,  eager  to  boast  of  glory  and 
patriotism  to  a  cause,  he  becomes  the  object  of  suspicion  from  the 
very  start.  We  can  recognize  in  this  crafty  and  ambitious  figure 
traces  of  another  creation  of  Balzac.  De  Verby  is  a  continuation  of 
Maxence  Gilet,  that  unscrupulous  champion  of  Bonapartism,  whose 
career  was  checked  in  its  prime  by  the  sword  of  Philippe  Bridau.^ 
De  Verby  is  Maxence  Gilet  in  after  life,  still  the  master  of  political 
shrewdness  which  would  do  honor  to  a  Borgia,  still  retaining  the 
bearing  of  a  former  captain  of  the  Guards,  now  lifted  to  a  higher 
social  rank,  the  brother  of  a  "gentilhomme  de  la  chambre,"  obse- 
quious and  wealthy. 

As  the  General  de  Verby  suggests  Maxence  Gilet  to  us,  so  the 
lawyer  Dupre  brings  to  mind  the  sollicitor  who  has  appeared  on  so 
many  of  Balzac's  pages,  Derville.^^  Dupre  is  a  man  of  wealth  and 
good  practice,  forty-eight  years  old.  His  contact  with  Parisian 
society  has  left  him  cold  and  bitter.  In  all  his  twenty  years  of 
practice  he  has  yet  to  meet  human  hearts  "exempts  de  calculs."^* 
His  outlook  on  the  world  is  consequently  that  of  a  misanthrope, 
based  on  a  long  observation  of  people  and  manners.  To  Mme 
Rousseau  he  declares: 

Je  vous  le  jure,  rien  n'excite  plus  ma  curiosity,  ma  sympathie,  qu'un  sentiment 
reel,  et  a  Paris  le  vrai  est  si  rare,  que  je  ne  saurais  rester  insensible  k  la  douleur  d'une 
famille  menac6e  de  perdre  un  fils  unique." 

21  Act  III,  scene  4. 

22  Act  i,  scene  1. 

23  Act  I,  scene  2. 

24  Les  Deux  Freres,  published  in  part  in  la  Presse,  in  1841 ;  title  changed  to  la  Rabou- 
illeuse  in  the  definitive  edition  of  1869. 

25  See  Gobseck,  1830;  Colonel  Chabert,  1832;  le  Pire  Goriot,  1834;  Une  Tenibreuse 
Affaire,  1841;  Un  Debut  dans  la  vie,  1842. 

26  Act  II,  scene  6. 
2''  Act  II,  scene  3. 


>  ■>  ■>  ->    ■> 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  101 

Jules'  case  interests  him  as  a  problem  to  solve;  he  is  concerned  not 
only  with  freeing  the  boy,  but  also  with  convicting  the  person  whom 
he  believes  to  head  the  conspiracy: 

Je  le  crois  la  dupe  de  gens  situes  dans  une  region  superieure,  et  j'aime  les  dupes 
quand  elles  le  sont  noblement  et  non  victimes  de  secrets  calculs.  .  .  car  nous  sommes 
dans  un  siecle  ou  la  dupe  est  aussi  avide  que  celui  qui  I'exploite.'^^ 

In  Dupre's  contact  with  the  world,  moreover,  he  has  been  an  outsider: 

Je  n'estime  pas  assez  les  hommes  pour  les  hair,  car  je  n'ai  rencontr6  personne 
que  je  pusse  aimer.^* 

Finally,  the  generosity  and  nobility  of  heart  which  he  has  sought  in 
vain,  are  revealed  to  him  by  a  poor  working  girl  whom  he  wishes  to 
make  his  wife. 

Dupre  is  unmistakably  modeled  after  Derville.  The  latter,  a 
modest  man  of  high  probity  and  culture,  frequents  the  society  of  the 
Faubourg  Saint-Germain,  and  is  thoroughly  at  home  in  the  "beau 
monde."  In  early  life,  at  the  beginning  of  his  career,  he  has  made 
the  acquaintance  of  the  philosophic  money-lender,  Gobseck;  and 
through  his  eyes  he  has  looked  into  all  the  cesspools  of  Paris.  Grad- 
ually, his  own  philosophy  is  shaped  by  this  crafty  old  miser,  whose 
great  scorn  for  humanity  has  been  engendered  by  watching  the 
disastrous  effects  of  lust  and  ambition  upon  the  human  heart. 
Like  Dupre,  society  presents  to  Derville  a  picture  of  selfishness, 
self-interest  and  depraved  manners,  and  he  cries  out:  "Paris  me  fait 
horreur!"^°  After  following  the  unhappy  destiny  of  Colonel  Chabert 
to  its  close,  he  moralizes  in  no  delicate  words  over  the  hideous  sights 
which  a  lawyer  is  forced  to  witness: 

Nous  voyons  se  repeter  les  memes  sentiments  mauvais,  rien  ne  les  corrige,  nos 
Etudes  sont  des  egouts  qu'on  ne  peut  pas  curer.^^ 

Derville's  choice  of  a  wife,  like  Dupre's,  is  from  the  ranks  of  the 
humble,  and  he  is  happily  married  to  a  Parisian  dress-maker.^^  As 
the  renunciation  of  Colonel  Chabert  rights  Derville  with  the  world, 
so  Pamela's  love  and  sacrifice  serve  to  reconcile  Dupre,  and  he  asks 
her  to  become  his  wife. 

28  Act  II,  scene  6. 

^°  Colonel  Chabert. 
31  Ibid. 
«2  Gobseck. 


102  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONOR^  DE  BALZAC 

In  Pamela  Giraud  Balzac  has  succeeded  in  making  a  good  melo- 
drama. The  action  is  simple  and  straightforward,  unhampered  by 
digressions.  The  dramatic  struggle  is  centered  about  two  conflicting 
classes  of  society  which  the  author  of  the  Human  Comedy  has 
described  in  so  many  of  his  novels:  a  wealthy  and  commercial  class, 
which  has  rapidly  covered  its  vulgar  exterior  with  a  varnish  of 
aristocracy,  and  a  humble  honest  class  of  the  petits  bourgeois.  Bal- 
zac has  also  maintained  during  at  least  four  of  the  acts  the  interest 
of  the  spectator  by  well  developed  situations  and  vivacious  dialogue, 
the  latter  a  marked  improvement  over  that  of  the  plays  already 
studied. 


VII 
LA  MARATRE 

Upon  his  return  from  Russia  in  1848,  Balzac  sent  for  Hostein, 
the  director  of  the  Theatre  Historique,  and  handed  over  to  him  a 
five-act  play  entitled  Gertrude^  tragedie  bourgeoise.  The  principal 
role  had  been  written  for  Mme  Dorval.  The  proposed  distribution 
also  included  the  leading  artists  of  the  Theatre  Historique,  among 
whom  were  Melingue,  formerly  of  the  Ambigu-Comique,  Mathis 
and  Barre.  The  play  was  accepted  and  immediately  read  to  the 
company.  Hostein  relates*  that  after  the  second  act  the  action  was 
so  overloaded  with  detail  that  it  was  impossible  to  go  on.  Dorval 
objected  to  the  name,  and  to  the  suicide  of  the  stepdaughter.  Cer- 
tain modifications  were  immediately  made,  notably  in  the  name, 
which  was  changed  to  la  Mardfre,  and  the  rehearsals  were  begun. 
Mme  Perier,  wife  of  Lacressoniere,  replaced  Mme  Dorval,  who  was 
obliged  to  resign  the  role  of  Gertrude  because  of  ill-health.^ 

The  play,  entitled  "un  drame  in  time  en  cinq  actes  et  huit  ta- 
bleaux," had  its  initial  performance  at  the  Theatre  Historique  on 
May  25,  1848.  It  was  published  the  same  year,  a  brochure  in- 12, 
by  Michel  Levy. 

"II  sufl5.t  h  un  jeune  homme  de  rencontrer  une  femme  qui  ne 
Taime  pas,  ou  une  femme  qui  I'aime  trop,  pour  que  toute  sa  vie  soit 
derangee,"  writes  Balzac  in  la  Peau  de  chagrin.^  La  Mar  dire  is  the 
history  of  a  woman  who  loves  too  much,  and  who  wrecks  not  only  the 
life  of  the  man  she  loves,  but  the  happiness  of  her  family  as  well. 

Mile  Gertrude  de  Meilhac,  an  orphan,  brought  up  in  the  convent 
of  Saint-Denis,  forms,  when  still  a  girl  in  her  teens,  an  attachment 
for  the  son  of  a  former  lieutenant-general  of  Napoleon's  army,  at 
one  time  the  commander  of  the  royal  guard.  The  son  inherits  a 
fortune  from  his  father,  and  the  ambitious  orphan  girl  sees  in  this 
union  a  golden  future  of  ease  and  happiness.  After  the  Hundred 
Days,  the  family  of  Ferdinand  Marcandal  is  ruined,  and  the  pampered, 
luxury-loving  son,  poetic  and  artistic,  is  thrown  into  the  world 
without  a  penny.     Gertrude,  far  from  abandoning  her  ambition, 

*  Historiettes  et  souvenirs  d'un  homme  de  theatre,  1878. 

2  Mme  Dorval  died  the  following  year,  May  29,  1849. 

3  (Euvres,  Vol.  XV,  p.  139. 


104  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORf  DE  BALZAC 

turns  from  her  first  love  to  a  wealthy  general  of  fifty-eight,  who  is 
seeking  a  governess  for  his  motherless  daughter.  "Elle  n'a  vu  dans 
ce  vieux  soldat  qu'un  coffre-fort.'"^  With  dreams  of  an  early  widow- 
hood and  a  fortune  to  spend,  Gertrude  accepts  the  General  Count 
de  Grandchamp's  offer,  not  as  governess,  but  as  wife.  She  has  been 
married  for  twelve  years,  and  she  is  only  thirty-two  years  old  at  the 
opening  of  the  play.  The  old  flame  of  passion  for  her  romantic 
young  lover  of  former  days  has  never  deserted  her.  Awaiting  her 
husband's  decease,  she  has  caused  Ferdinand  to  come  into  her 
home,  and  has  secured  for  him  a  trusted  position  in  her  husband's 
employ.  With  the  entrance  of  the  lover  into  this  quiet  Norman 
family,  the  drama  begins.  We  discover  first  that  the  General,  a 
devoted  husband  and  a  doting  father,  is  consumed  with  a  passionate 
love  for  the  memory  of  Bonaparte  under  whom  he  has  served,  and 
whose  fate  has  awakened  in  him  an  everlasting  thirst  for  vengeance 
on  those  "traitors"  who  have  brought  it  about.  In  the  very  bosom 
of  his  family  one  of  these  traitors  is  lodged.  To  be  sure,  Ferdinand 
has  taken  his  mother's  name,  and  has  given  no  hint  of  his  real  origin. 
But  his  relations  with  the  General's  family  have  latterly  become 
still  more  intimate.  Unresponsive  to  the  wife's  charms,  Ferdinand 
has  fallen  in  love  with  the  daughter.  Fearing  this  catastrophe, 
Gertrude,  soon  to  become  her  stepdaughter's  bitter  rival,  tries  to 
hasten  the  marriage  which  has  been  arranged  for  Pauline  to  an  aged 
suiter,  a  wealthy  land-owner  named  Godard,  or  Godard  de  Rimon- 
ville,  as  he  likes  to  be  called. 

There  is  quiet,  almost  idyllic  dignity  about  the  opening  scenes 
of  the  drama:  the  gathering  of  the  family  at  the  dinner  hour;  the 
usual  banter  between  the  General  and  his  old  friend,  Godard;  the 
appearance  of  the  young  daughter  on  her  stepmother's  arm;  the 
family  doctor,  Vernon,  and  the  little  son,  Gertrude's  boy,  Napoleon. 
The  character  of  the  stepmother  begins  to  develop  in  all  of  its  repul- 
siveness.  A  tragedy  has  occurred  in  the  General's  factory  which 
disturbs  the  tranquillity  of  the  dinner  guests.  A  foreman,  who  has 
been  accused  of  poisoning  his  wife,  is  brought  into  the  house  to  face 
the  officers  of  justice.  The  man  is  known  to  have  bought  arsenic, 
but  he  protests  that  his  purchase  was  made  for  Gertrude,  and  declares 
that  his  wife  died  a  natural  death.  His  statements  are  borne  out, 
first  by  Doctor  Vernon,  who  has  diagnosed  the  woman's  disease  as 

*  Act  I,  scene  8. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  105 

cholera,  and  then  by  Gertrude,  who  produces  the  package  of  arsenic 
with  intact  labels.  Upon  this  evidence  of  innocence,  the  man  is 
freed,  but  there  is  a  presentiment  about  the  prosecutor's  warning 
to  him,  which  seems  to  foreshadow  an  impending  tragedy: 

Vous  voyez  mon  ami,  a  quels  facheux  soupcons  on  est  expose,  quand  on  fait 
mauvais  manage.  .  .  Ceux  qui  vivent  sans  reproche,  qui  n'ont  que  des  passions 
nobles,  avouables,  n'ont  jamais  rien  a  redouter  de  la  justice.^ 

The  family  now  returns  to  its  coffee  and  after-dinner  conversation. 
Godard,  who  has  been  rejected  by  Pauline,  takes  occasion  at  this 
moment  to  play  a  rather  stupid  trick  on  the  girl  to  discover  whether 
she  is  really  in  love  with  Ferdinand  or  not.  He  tells  the  little 
Napoleon  to  announce  brusquely  to  the  assembled  family  that 
Ferdinand  has  broken  his  leg.  The  little  joke  has  far-reaching 
results.  With  a  cry  of  pain,  Pauline  sinks  into  her  chair  as  the 
child  tells  his  petty  falsehood : 

Gertrudey  d  Godard,  a  qui  elk  tend  un  petit  verre:  Savez-vous,  monsieur,  que  vous 
seriez  un  detestable  pr6cepteur!  C'est  bien  mal  k  vous  d'apprendre  de  semblables 
mechancetes  a  un  enfant. 

Godard:  Vous  trouverez  que  j'ai  tr^s-bien  fait,  quand  vous  saurez  que,  par  ce 
petit  stratageme  de  soci^t^.j'ai  pu  d^couvrir  mon  rival.  (II  montre  Ferdinand^  qui 
entre). 

Gertrude,  elle  laisse  tomber  le  sucrier:  Lui! 

Godard^  d  part:  Elle  aussi!" 

The  clouds  have  now  gathered,  and  the  storm  is  ready  to  break. 
Sarcey,  speaking  of  the  incident  of  the  breaking  of  the  sugar-bowl, 

says: 

C'est  qu'avec  lui  tombe  en  morceaux  le  masque  de  paix  et  de  bonheur  sous  lequel 
se  cachaient  des  passions  perverses  et  que  nous  savons  implacablesJ 

The  struggle  between  stepmother  and  daughter  has  begun.  With 
naturalness  the  scene  closes  about  the  whist  table,  and  the  little  boy 
is  sent  off  to  bed: 

Gertrude:  Pauline,  ma  fille,  prdsente  les  cartes  k  ces  messieurs  pour  le  whist. 
II  est  bientot  neuf  heures;  s'ils  veulent  faire  leur  partie,  il  ne  faut  pas  perdre  de 
temps.  (Pauline  arrange  les  cartes.)  Aliens,  Napoleon,  dites  bonsoir  k  ces  messieurs, 
et  donnez  bonne  opinion  de  vous,  en  ne  gaminant  pas  comme  vous  faites  tous  les  soirs. 

iVa^o/eo«:  Bonsoir,  papa.     Comment  done  est  faite  la  justice? 

Le  Giniral:  Comme  un  aveugle!    Bonne  nuit,  mon  mignoni 

*  Act  II,  scene  3. 

•  Act  II,  scene  4. 

''Quarante  Ans  de  thidtre,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  187-93,  article  la  Mardtre;  originally 
appeared  in  VO pinion  nationale,  September  12,  1859. 


106  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

Napolion:  Bonsoir,  monsieur  Vernon!    De  quoi  est  done  faite  la  justice? 

Vernon:  De  tous  nos  crimes.  Quand  tu  as  commis  une  sottise,  on  te  donne  le 
fouet;  voila  la  justice. 

NapoUon:  Je  n'ai  jamais  eu  le  fouet. 

Vernon:  On  ne  t'a  jamais  fait  justice,  alors! 

Napoleon:  Bonsoir,  mon  bon  ami! — Bonsoir,  Pauline! — ^Adieu,  monsieur  Giod- 
ard.  .  .  . 

Godard:  De  Rimonville. 

NapoUon:  Ai-je  6t6  gentil?     {Gertrude  Vembrasse.) 

Le  General:  J'ai  le  roi. 

Vernon:  Moi,  la  dame. 

Ferdinand,  a  Godard:  Monsieur,  nous  sommes  ensemble. 

Gertrude,  voyant  Marguerite:  Dis  bien  tes  prieres,  ne  fais  pas  enrager  Marguerite 
.  .  .    Va,  cher  amour. 

Napolion:  Tiens,  cher  amour!  ...  en  quoi  c'est-y  fait  I'amour?     (//  s'en  va.) 

As  the  whist  game  goes  on,  the  two  women  are  left  together.  Ger- 
trude must  learn  the  truth  of  Godard's  assertion,  but  her  questioning 
only  serves  to  put  the  girl  on  her  guard.  The  party  breaks  up  for 
the  night,  and  finally  father  and  daughter  are  left  alone.  The 
motherless  girl,  no  longer  able  to  trust  her  stepmother,  seeks  in  vain 
to  confess  the  story  of  her  love  to  the  old  man,  but  an  immense 
barrier  separates  them,  for  Ferdinand  is  the  son  of  a  hated  traitor. 

The  scene  changes,  and  we  see  a  meeting  between  the  two  lovers 
at  midnight.  Ferdinand  tells  Pauline  the  wretched  story  about  her 
stepmother,  how  she  has  loved  him  in  the  past,  and  how  he  has 
returned  this  love.  He  gives  her  as  further  proof  the  passionate 
letters  which  Gertrude  formerly  wrote  to  him.  But  they  are  over- 
heard by  Gertrude,  who  finally  faces  Pauline  with  defiance,  and 
lays  bare  her  soul  in  all  its  hideousness  to  the  girl.^ 

The  third  act  opens  on  the  morning  following  the  stormy  inter- 
view betweeii  the  two  women.  Gertrude  after  a  sleepless  night 
turns  to  Ferdinand  and  tries  to  justify  her  conduct.  She  confesses 
without  shame  her  violent  nature,  and  pleads  with  her  former  lover 
to  return  her  affection.  She  offers  even  to  renounce  her  home  if 
he  will  consent  to  flee  with  her.  Ferdinand  is  only  able  to  repeat 
that  he  no  longer  loves  her.  It  is  then  that  Gertrude  determines  to 
wreck  the  lives  of  the  two  youthful  lovers.     She  persuades  her 

*  In  our  own  day,  this  scene  has  been  reproduced  with  striking  force  by  Sir  Arthur 
Pinero,  when  the  second  Mrs  Tanqueray  appears  in  her  true  light  as  the  former  mistress 
of  her  stepdaughter's  afl&anced.  But  Gertrude's  taint  is  much  deeper  than  Mrs. 
Tanqueray 's;  she  is  the  jealous  rival  of  her  daughter,  while  Pinero's  heroine  has  long 
since  renounced  this  passion,  and  it  is  only  an  evil  chance  that  has  thrown  it  again 
across  her  path. — The  Second  Mrs  Tanqueray,  produced  first  at  London,  May  27,  1893. 


TH£  drama  of  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  107 

husband  that  Pauline  loves  Ferdinand,  and  that  they  should  marry, 
knowing  that  Ferdinand's  identity  will  thus  become  known  to  the 
General.  In  the  meanwhile,  the  young  man,  who  realizes  the  hope- 
lessness of  his  situation,  thinks  of  leaving  France,  and  of  seeking  his 
fortune  in  America.  The  two  women  are  left  face  to  face  to  wage  a 
heartless  and  brutal  warfare.  "Selon  mon  pere,"  says  Pauline,  ''la 
guerre  entre  gens  civilizes  a  ses  lois;  mais  la  guerre  que  vous  me 
faites,  madame,  est  celle  des  sauvages."^  So  be  it.  The  young  girl 
determines  to  fight  Gertrude  with  her  own  weapons.  She  threatens 
her  with  the  letters.  Gertrude,  aware  that  Pauline  has  these  upon 
her  person,  determines  to  obtain  them  at  all  costs.  She  puts  opium 
in  her  tea.  Pauline^  overcome  by  the  opiate,  is  carried  to  her  room, 
but  Gertrude's  act  has  been  noticed  by  Doctor  Vernon.  The  latter, 
obtaining  the  poisoned  teacup,  locks  it  in  a  closet  as  future  evidence. 
Aware  of  the  hostility  between  the  two  women,  the  good  doctor 
questions  them  both  in  an  effort  to  clear  up  the  troubled  domestic 
clouds.  But  Pauline  is  unwilling  to  mention  the  letters,  seeking  to 
avert  dishonor  to  her  father's  name.  Instead,  she  determines  to 
leave  home  with  Ferdinand,  a  thing  which  in  any  case  would  bring 
greater  dishonor  to  her  family!  As  she  is  about  to  depart,  Gertrude, 
who  has  overheard  the  whole  plot — a  frequent  occurrence  in  the 
play — interposes  herself  between  the  two  lovers.  She  threatens 
now  to  reveal  Ferdinand's  identity  to  the  General.  In  desperation, 
Pauline  agrees  to  marry  Godard.  Instead,  she  surreptitiously 
steals  the  package  of  arsenic  from  Gertrude's  desk,  and  with  it  puts 
an  end  to  her  life.  Again,  justice,  with  all  its  grimness,  enters  the 
General  de  Grandchamp's  house,  for  the  wrapper  from  the  arsenic 
package,  which  was  once  the  means  of  proving  innocence,  now  points 
to  guilt,  and  Gertrude  is  accused  of  her  stepdaughter's  murder.  But 
Pauline,  on  her  death-bed,  confesses  her  act  of  suicide  in  the  presence 
of  her  family.  Ferdinand,  unwilling  to  live  without  his  sweetheart, 
reveals  his  real  name,  and  shares  the  poisoned  cup.  With  over- 
whelming force,  the  truths  which  have  been  so  well-guarded  from  the 
father,  are  made  plain  to  him,  one  by  one,  and  the  curtain  falls  on 
the  broken  old  man,  stammering  prayers  by  his  daughter's  death-bed. 


As  it  appears  from  the  summary  of  the  action  of  la  Mardtre, 
there  is  a  vast  difference  in  quality  between  the  first  two  acts  and 

"  Act  III,  scene  7. 


108  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

the  rest  of  the  play.  The  two  are  infinitely  superior  to  the  others, 
and  display  a  certain  knowledge  of  dramatic  construction  on  the  part 
of  the  author.  Although  we  cannot  accept  the  high  praise  which 
Bire  has  allowed  it/^  the  second  act  is  especially  worthy  of  the 
author  of  the  Human  Comedy.  The  essential  dramatic  struggle  is 
announced  clearly,  and  with  precision:  the  opposition  between 
peaceful  daily  life  and  passions  at  the  breaking-point;  between 
devoted  family  ties  and  insidious  jealousy.  Balzac  has  made  reality 
his  point  of  departure.  Hostein  relates  in  his  Eistoriettes  et  souvenirs 
d'un  homme  de  ihedtre  an  interesting  page  about  the  composition  of 
the  play: 

Je  le  priai  de  me  dire,  si  cela  etait  possible,  quelques  mots  du  sujet  nouveau  qu'il 
nous  destinait. 

— Ce  sera  une  chose  atroce,  reprit  Balzac.  .  .  . 

— Comment,  atroce? 

— Entendons-nous,  il  ne  s'agit  pas  d'un  gros  m^lodrame  ou  le  traitre  hrOle  les 
maisons  et  perfore  a  outrance  les  habitants.  Non,  je  r^ve  une  com^die  de  salon  oil 
tout  est  calme,  tranquille,  aimable.  Les  honmies  jouent  placidement  au  whist,  k  la 
clart6  de  bougies  surmontees  de  leurs  petits  abat-jour  verts.  Les  femmes  causent  et 
rient  en  travaillant  a  des  ouvrages  de  broderie.  On  prend  un  th6  patriarcal.  En  un 
^%aiot,  tout  annonce  la  regie  et  I'harmonie.  Eh  bien,  la-dessous  les  passions  s'agitent, 
le  drame  marche  et  couve,  jusqu'a  ce  qu'il  6clate  comme  la  flamme  d'un  incendie. 
Voil^  ce  que  je  veux. 

— Vous  ^tes  dans  votre  element,  maitre.     Alors,  votre  donn^e  est  trouv6e? 

— Compl^tement.  C'est  le  hasard,  notre  collaborateur  habituel,  qui  me  I'a  fournie. 
Je  connais  une  famille — je  ne  la  nommerai  pas — composee  d'un  mari,  d'une  fille  que 
le  mari  a  eue  d'une  premiere  union,  et  d'une  belle-mere,  jeune  encore  et  sans  enfant. 
Les  deux  femmes  s'adorent.  Les  soins  empresses  de  I'une,  la  tendresse  mignonne  et 
caressante  de  I'autre  font  I'admiration  de  I'entourage. 

Moi  aussi,  j'ai  trouv6  cela  charmant.  .  .  d'abord.  Ensuite,  je  me  suis  6tonne, 
non  point  qu'une  belle-mere  et  sa  bru  fussent  bien  ensemble — cela  n'est  pas  pr6cis6ment 
contre  nature — mais  qu'elles  fussent  trop  bien.     L'exces  gate  tout. 

Malgr6  moi,  je  me  pris  k  observer;  quelques  incidents  f utiles  me  maintinrent  dans 
mon  idee.  Enfin,  une  circonstance  plus  grave  m'a  prouve,  un  de  ces  derniers  soirs, 
que  je  n'avais  point  port6  un  jugement  temeraire. 

Comme  je  me  presentais  dans  le  salon  k  une  heure  oil  il  ne  s'y  trouvait  presque 
plus  personne,  je  vis  la  bru  sortir  sans  m'avoir  remarqu^.  EUe  regardait  sa  belle- 
m^re.  Quel  regard!  Quelque  chose  comme  un  coup  de  stylet.  La  belle-mere  6tait 
occupee  a  6teindre  les  bougies  de  la  table  de  whist.     Elle  se  retourna  du  cdte  de  sa 

^^  "Le  second  acte  n'est  pas  moins  remarquable  que  le  premier.  II  renferme  une 
scene  qui  est,  k  coup  siir,  I'une  des  plus  belles  du  th6dtre  contemporain."  (La  sc^ne 
de  la  partie  de  whist.) 

"Les  deux  premiers  actes  confinaient  au  chef-d'ceuvre;  mfeme  dans  les  trois 
derniers,  que  de  scenes  d'int6r6t  poignant!" — Honors  de  Balzac,  pp.  243,  245. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  109 

belle-fille;  leurs  yeux  se  rencontrerent,  et  le  plus  gracieux  sourire  se  dessina  en  meme 
temps  sur  leurs  levres.  La  porte  s'dtant  refermee  sur  la  bru,  I'expression  du  visage 
de  I'autre  femme  se  changea  subitement  en  une  amere  contraction. 

Tout  cela  prit,  vous  le  pensez  bien,  le  temps  d'un  Eclair,  mais  ce  temps  m'avait 
sufl5.  Je  me  dis:  Voila  deux  creatures  qui  s'ex^crent! — Que  venait-il  de  se  passer?  Je 
n'en  sais  rien,  jamais  je  ne  voudrai  le  savoir;  mais,  partant  de  la,  un  drame  tout  entier 
se  d6roula  dans  mon  esprit. 

The  exchange  of  a  glance  between  two  hostile  women,  and  his 
drama  was  conceived.  He  has  made  observation  the  starting-point. 
For  treatment  he  has  chosen  a  comfortable  Norman  family,  and  has 
striven  by  careful  emphasis  on  material  setting,  by  observation  of 
intimate  details  of  character  deliniation  to  give  to  this  setting  an 
impression  of  truth.  Here  we  note  the  powerful  imagination  of 
Balzac  at  work;  he  perceives  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  the  dramatic 
possibilities  of  his  situation;  a  detail,  seized  haphazard,  leads  to  the 
building  up  of  an  intrigue,  to  the  essential  "scenes  a  faire." 

Balzac,  making  reality  his  point  of  departure,  has,  however, 
developed  his  play  in  a  manner  that  is  only  feebly  realistic.  The 
/  incidents  and  the  thread  of  the  action  are  very  unreal.  In  the  first 
place,  the  author's  methods  of  creating  situations  are  awkward  and 
too  apparent.  The  accusation  of  the  workman  at  the  beginning  of 
the  play  serve  merely  to  prove  that  the  package  of  arsenic  purchased 
by  Gertrude  is  at  that  moment  sealed,  an  important  bit  of  evidence 
against  her  at  the  end  of  the  play.  Godard's  trick  to  discover 
whether  Pauline  loves  Ferdinand  is  stupid  and  dramatically  poor. 
The  same  awkward  device  is  employed  by  Gertrude  when  she  tells 
Pauline  that  Ferdinand  is  married.  The  incriminating  tea-cup  which 
Vernon  has  obtained  from  Pauline  is  like  lead  in  his  hands  until  he 
locks  it  in  a  closet  of  which  he  has,  strangely  enough,  the  key.  Ger- 
trude drops  the  key  to  her  desk  in  which  the  arsenic  is  hidden  just 
at  the  moment  that  Pauline  decides  to  kill  herself.  Later  Pauline 
returns  the  key  to  her  stepmother's  pocket,  an  act  which  will  throw 
suspicion  upon  Gertrude. 

In  addition  to  certain  undramatic  situations,  Balzac  has  spoiled 
the  unity  of  his  composition  by  the  constant  use  of  asides  and  eaves- 
dropping. Gertrude  resorts  to  this  latter  trick  constantly:  she  spies 
upon  Pauline  and  the  General;  she  overhears  all  that  the  two  lovers 
say.  The  excessive  talk  about  exact  sums  of  money  and  about 
incomes  is  also  a  tedious  proceeding  of  the  author  throughout  the 
play.  All  thes^  minute  details  of  finance  were  thoroughly  realistic 
to  the  mind  of  Balzac;  he  believed  them  to  be  a  necessary  phase  of 


\; 


»110  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

his  characters'  lives,  just  as  much  so  as  his  own  "comptes  drolatiques" 
were  to  him.  But  these  details  are  undramatic,  and  a  useless  bit 
of  padding.  Without  doubt,  the  daughter's  fortune — 350,000  francs 
from  mother  and  uncle  plus  interest,  making  367,000  francs,  which 
her  father  will  increase  to  400,000  francs  upon  her  marriage — was 
one  of  the  excessive  details  which  Mme  Dorval  wished  to  dispose  of 
at  the  first  reading  of  the  play! 

"On  avance  dans  ce  drame  ainsi  qu'en  un  reve  affreux,""  writes 
Sarcey  in  his  review  of  the  play.  With  the  beginning  of  the  third 
act,  the  "tragedie  bourgeoise''  fades  into  obscurity,  and  we  are 
transported  abruptly  into  the  realm  of  the  melodrama.  Gertrude 
offering  to  leave  her  home  with  Ferdinand;  the  scenes  of  hysterical 
violence  between  the  two  women;  the  pathetic  figure  of  Gertrude's 
innocent  little  boy;  the  final  suicide  of  the  two  lovers,  are  all  appeals 
to  the  most  vulgar  boulevard  tastes.  The  language  changes  in  tone 
from  the  naturalness  of  the  tea-table  scene,  already  cited,  to  violent 
expressions  of  hatred,  anger  and  pathos.  Gertrude  says  to  Ferdi- 
nand: "Je  n'avais  pour  vous  que  des  regards  pleins  de  tendresse,  une 
physionomie  gaie,"^^  and  a  few  moments  later: 

La  folic,  avec  ses  reves  insenses,  danse  autour  de  ma  cervelle!  .  .  .  Le  meurtre 
m'agite  les  doigts.  .  .  C'est  dans  ces  moments-la  qu'on  tue!  .  .  .  Ah!  comme  je  la 
tuerais!  .  .  .  Oh!  mbnDieu!  monDieu!  nem'abandonnezpas,  laissez-moima  raison! 
.  .  .    Voyons!" 

Gertrude  at  her  husband's  mercy  in  the  last  act  cries  out: 

Mon  ami!  .  .  .  pauvre  pere!  .  .  .  Ah!  je  voudrais  que  Ton  me  tu&t  a  I'instant  sans 
proces.  .  .  .  Non,  Pauline  m'a  envelopp^e  dans  son  suaire,  et  je  sens  ses  doigts  glac6s 
autour  de  mon  cou.  .  .  Oh!  j'etais  resignee!  j'allais,  oui,  j'allais  ensevelir  avec  moi  le 
secret  de  ce  drame  domestique,  6pouvantable,  et  que  toutes  les  femmes  devraient 
connaltre!  mais  je  suis  lasse  de  cette  lutte  avec  un  cadavre  qui  m'etreint,  qui  me 
communique  la  mort!  Eh  bien!  mon  innocence  sortira  victorieuse  de  ces  aveux  aux 
d^pens  de  I'honneur;  mais  je  ne  serai  pas  du  moins  une  lache  et  vile  empoisonneuse. 
Ah!  je  vais  tout  dire.^* 


Turning  to  the  characters,  we  find  a  surprising  diversity  in  their 
quality  also.  In  the  General  Count  de  Grandchamp,  former  officer 
under  the  Empire,  colonel  of  the  "jeune  garde,"  seventy  years  old, 

11  Quarante  ans  de  theatre,  Vol.  IV,  p.  191. 

12  Act  III,  scene  2. 

1'  Act  III,  scene  7.  • 

"  Act  V,  scene  10. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  111 

twenty-six  campaigns  and  eleven  wounds — one  of  them  at  Waterloo — 
Balzac  has  incarnated  loyalty  to  a  lost  cause.  Much  has  already 
been  written  about  his  treatment  of  Napoleon. ^^  From  la  Vendetta 
and  la  Femme  de  trente  ans,  both  written  in  1830,  to  Une  Tenebreuse 
Affaire  in  1841,  Napoleon  appeared  in  various  phases  throughout  the 
novels;  from  Colonel  Chabert,  whose  ardor  for  the  Emperor  amounted 
to  a  tremendous  passion,  to  Philippe  Bridau,  Balzac  had  expressed  in 
his  characters  an  intense  admiration  for  the  man.  When  he  came 
to  consecrate  his  memory  upon  the  stage  in  the  figure  of  this  faithful 
follower,  General  de  Grandchamp,  he  was  following  moreover  the 
vogue  of  almost  every  dramatist,  great  and  small,  of  his  day.  The 
keynote  to  the  character  is  devotion :  devotion  first  of  all  to  God,  then 
to  his  Emperor,  and  then  to  his  family: 

Vraunent,  le  bon  Dieu  me  devait  ma  Gertrude,  ne  ftit-ce  que  pour  me  consoler 
de  la  chute  et  de  la  mort  de  I'empereur^^ 

To  his  little  son  he  has  given  the  name,  Napoleon.  But  devotion  to 
his  family  has  robbed  the  old  soldier  of  all  subtlety  of  character,  and 
he  is  aware  of  none  of  the  tragic  events  which  take  place  under  his 
very  eyes.  Balzac  has  noted  with  insistent  care  the  contrast  between 
the  kindly  nature  of  the  General  and  the  violence  of  his  wife.  At 
the  moment  when  Gertrude  is  sharpening  her  most  deadly  weapons, 
the  General  is  blissfully  happy,  and  kisses  her  hand,  saying:  "Que 
tu  es  bonne  !"^^  This  character  of  the  old  "grognard,"  a  good  father, 
brave  and  honest,  is  scarcely  more  than  a  conventional  type  common 
to  a  great  many  plays  of  the  day.  Conventional  and  pale  also  is  the 
country  doctor  Vernon.  Godard,  the  sound  and  honest  Norman 
farmer,  is  drawn  with  some  realistic  care.  He  is  the  General's  jovial 
friend,  awkward  over  the  tea-table  and  in  his  declarations  of  love, 
much  more  at  ease  when  he  is  discussing  good  pasture  lands  in  the 
valley  of  the  Auge  and  his  mortgages.  Of  humble  origin,  he  is 
constantly  reminded  by  the  General  that  his  father  was  "un  fort 
honnete  homme  qui  menait  ses  boeufs  lui-m^me  de  Caen  a  Poissy, 
et  qui  s'appelait  sur  toute  la  route  Godard,  le  pere  Godard. "^^ 

Balzac  has  been  more  careful  in  his  presentation  of  the  General's 
daughter,  Pauline.     This  twenty-two-year-old  girl,  inheriting  from 

^^  See  especially  Bir6,  Honore  de  Balzac,  pp.  24-76, 
^*  Act  I,  scene  2. 
"  Act  III,  scene  5. 
^*  Act  I,  scene  3. 


112  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

her  father  all  the  violence  of  his  nature,  brought  up  without  the 
tender  care  of  a  mother,  is  suddenly  confronted  with  the  hideous 
spectacle  of  her  stepmother's  lust.  There  is  no  person  to  whom 
she  may  confide  her  trouble,  or  from  whom  she  may  seek  comfort. 
Gradually  sinking  under  the  weight  of  treachery  and  cunning  which 
is  forced  upon  her,  she  takes  refuge  in  her  stepmother's  own  weapons, 
until  finally  she  is  hounded  out  of  her  senses,  and  takes  her  own  life. 
As  Eire  has  pointed  out,^^  Pauline  is  no  *'jeune  premiere  de  con- 
vention." Like  Anna,  in  VRcole  des  menages,  she  has  a  will  of  her 
own,  and  a  certain  cunning  outlook  upon  the  world,  the  result  of  her 
lonely  life.  Like  Anna,  also,  Pauline  loves  and  hates  with  equal 
fervor,  and  her  passions  are  too  apparent,  expressed  with  too  much 
vigor  to  correspond  to  reality,  so  that  both  figures  sink  to  the  realm 
of  the  melodrama. 

j  In  Gertrude,  Balzac  has  given  us  merely  a  "femme  fata^e"  of  the 
melodrama.     This  woman,  with  the  exterior  of  a  devoted  wife  and 

'  mother,  lavishing  fond  care  upon  her  son  and  obedient  to  her  hus- 
band's smallest  requests,  conceals  for  her  former  lover  a  strong 
criminal  passion  which  works  ruin  within  her  home.  What  is  really 
terrible  about  the  character  is  the  ascendency  which  she  gains  over 
her  innocent  victim,  dragging  Pauline  after  her  into  the  mire  of 
vulgar  subterfuge,  deceit  and  cunning.  When  her  adulterous  soul 
has  been  laid  bare  to  her  stepdaughter,  she  sinks  rapidly  in  self- 
esteem.     Her  speech  becomes  vulgar: 

Les  hommes  ne  se  croient  aimes  que  quand  ils  nous  ont  fait  tomber  dans  la  fange! 
Et  voila  comme  il  me  recompense!  il  a  des  rendez-vous  la  nuit  avec  cette  sotte  de  fille.'" 

Her  reproaches  to  Ferdinand  and  her  inflammable  retorts  to  the 
honest  Godard  would  do  justice  to  a  woman  of  the  streets.  Gertrude 
is  an  excessive  creation,  with  all  the  faults  and  all  the  vices  of  the 
melodrama,  a  character  of  no  complexity  or  originality.  Nor  has 
Balzac  been  more  careful  with  the  character  of  the  lover,  who  remains 
under  the  author's  pen  an  unfinished  figure.  A  trusted  friend  who 
violates  all  the  sacred  laws  of  hospitality,  and  doubly  betrays  his 
protector's  trust,  he  is  but  sketchily  drawn,  and  Balzac  has  taken 
little  pains  with  him.  He  is  inconsistent  to  the  extreme — one 
moment  vowing  eternal  vengeance  upon  his  former  mistress  because 
she  stands  in  the  way  of  his  suit;  the  next,  declaring  his  sincere, 

"  Honore  de  Balzac,  p.  246. 
20  Act  III,  scene  1. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  113 

devoted  and  absolute  friendship.^i  Spied  upon,  living  in  constant 
fear  of  detection,  he  cuts  a  sorry  figure,  and  is  little  else  than  the 
conventional  **Jeune  premier."  Balzac  has  wished  to  make  a  sym- 
pathetic character  of  him,  but  his  conduct  does  not  inspire  sympa- 
thy, and  Gertrude's  reproaches  to  him  are  well  deserved. 


Balzac's  conception  of  his  family  tragedy,  inspired  by  the  ex- 
change of  jealous  glances  between  two  women,  shows  boldness  and 
originality.  The  dramatic  situation  which  he  has  developed,  that 
of  a  lover  placed  between  two  women,  one  older  and  one  younger, 
is  by  no  means  original  with  him.  At  least  two  of  the  elder  Dumas' 
dramas  center  about  this  same  triangular  action:  Teresa  and 
AngeleP'  In  the  latter  play  Alfred  d'Alvimar,  the  ruined  son  of  a 
family  which  was  formerly  wealthy,  is  on  the  point  of  marrying  the 
Countess  de  Gaston  after  he  has  compromised  the  daughter.  In 
Teresa  there  are  much  closer  resemblances  to  la  Mardtre.  In  this 
play,  the  Baron  Delaunay,  a  colonel  of  the  Empire,  marries  late  in 
life  a  beautiful  Neopolitan,  Teresa.  This  youthful  woman,  like 
Gertrude,  has  had  a  former  lover,  Arthur,  who  proves  to  be  affianced 
to  her  stepdaughter.  Arthur,  moreover,  like  Ferdinand,  Is  a  royalist, 
to  whom  Delaunay  has  with  difficulty  become  reconciled: 

Son  pere  combattait  pour  un  homme;  moi,  je  combattais  pour  la  France!  .  . 
Tout  homme  qui  porte  les  armes  contre  son  pays  est  un  traitre.  .  .  et  son  fils  est  un 
fils  de  traitre  P 

In  this  play  the  same  wicked  jealousy  develops  unknown  to  the  old 
soldier,  but  here  the  adulterous  passion  is  reversed,  for  it  is  Arthur 
who  seeks  to  renew  his  former  love,  while  the  stepmother  is  gen- 
erous, seeking  to  spare  her  husband.  The  struggle  in  la  Mardtre 
is  essentially  between  two  women,  while  Dumas  has  centered  it 
about  father-in-law  and  son-in-law.  Balzac's  veteran  general,  whose 
consolation  for  Napoleon's  downfall  has  been  a  young  wife,  unmis- 
takably suggests  Delaunay,  who  has  followed  his  leader's  bloody 

2^  Act  II,  scene  10;  act  III,  scene  2. 

^  Theatre  complet  d* Alexandre  Dumas,  vol.  II  and  III.  Paris,  Michel  Levy,  1863. 
Teresa,  a  prose  drama  in  five  acts,  Salle  Ventadour,  February  6,  1832;  Angele,  a  prose 
drama  in  five  acts,  Porte-Saint-Martin,  December  28,  1833;  both  plays  written  in 
collaboration  with  Anicet  Bourgeois, 

23  Act  IV,  scene  13. 


114  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONOR^  DE  BALZAC 

trail  across  Europe  .^^  General  de  Grandchamp  speaks  of  his  wife 
in  almost  the  same  terms  as  Delaunay: 

Godard,  un  ange  a  qui  vous  devez  I'education  de  votre  future;  elle  I'a  faite  a  son 
image.     Pauline  est  une  perle,  un  bijou;  ga  n'a  pas  quitte  la  maison,  c'est  pur, innocent, 
comme  dans  le  berceau.^ 
In  like  manner  Delaunay  describes  his  new  wife  to  his  daughter: 

Je  rencontrai  un  ange  d'amour  et  de  puret6,  que  je  ne  puis  comparer  qu'a  toi,  mon 
enfant.* 

Souvenirs  of  Teresa  seem  unmistakably  present  in  la  Mardtre.  That 
Balzac  was  intentionally  borrowing  a  situation  or  a  character  from 
Dumas,  we  are  unable  to  say.  The  fact  remains,  that  la  Mardtre 
was  written  for  Hostein  and  the  Theatre  Historique  at  the  moment 
when  Dumas  was  composing  solely  for  that  theatre,  and  was  im- 
mensely popular.27  Perhaps  Balzac,  in  his  eagerness  to  compete 
with  Dumas  and  to  succeed  as  he  had  done,  studied  the  sources  of 
his  success,  and  unconsciously  took  from  one  or  more  of  the  plays  a 
situation  and  a  scene  or  two  to  develop. 


An  American  journalist,  Walter  Littlefield,  remarks  that  la 
Mardtre  just  misses  being  the  forerunner  of  the  modern  French 
realistic  drama.  "In  it,"  he  continues,  "had  Balzac  been  as  true 
to  himself  in  incident  and  dialogue  as  he  was  in  abstractly  sketching 
a  drama  of  great  human  passion,  he  might,  and  very  certainly  would, 
have  produced  a  masterpiece  of  its  kind."28  in  this  play  Balzac 
has  returned  to  the  domestic  tragedy  with  which  he  began  his  real 
theatrical  period.  As  in  VEcole  des  menages,  he  has  attempted  the 
study  of  bourgeois  family  life  in  which  violent  passions  are  at  work. 
In  his  first  play,  it  is  a  father's  passion  for  a  girl  in  his  employ;  in 
la  Mardtre^  a  mother's  passion  for  her  husband's  clerk.  In  both 
plays  the  family  ruin  involves  a  young  daughter  whose  character 
is  misshapen  by  the  wretched  plight  of  her  parents;  and  it  is  the 
exercise  of  this  daughter's  will  that  brings  about  the  catastrophe. 
Just  as  VJ^cole  des  menages  is  a  hybrid  production,  half-way  between 
the  bourgeois  tragedy  and  the  melodrama,  so  la  Mardtre  gives  way 
after  the  first  two  acts  to  romanticism,  filled  with  clumsy  action  and 
excessive  personages. 

^  Act  II,  scene  5. 

"^  Act  I,  scene  3. 

^  Act  II,  scene  5. 

27  In  1847,  after  opening  with  la  Reine  Margot,  February  20,  the  Th64tre  Histo- 
rique presented  the  following  plays  of  Dumas:  Intrigue  et  amour,  June  11;  /e  Chevalier 
de  Maison-Rouge,  August  3;  Hamlet,  December  15;  in  1848,  Monte-Cristo,  first  part, 
February  3;  Monte-Cristo,  second  part,  February  4;  Catilina,  October  14. 

28  The  Critic,  September  1902,  p.  250. 


VIII 
MERCADET 

In  1839,  during  his  negotiations  with  the  Renaissance  Theatre 
for  V£.cole  des  menages,  Balzac  began  to  talk  of  another  play,  which 
he  offered  in  advance  to  the  Theatre  Franjais,  first  under  the  title 
of  le  Commerce,  and  later,  les  Mercadets}  There  is  no  reason  to 
believe  that  during  this  year  he  did  more  than  draw  up  plans  for  his 
comedy,  for  in  May  1840,  it  is  no  longer  a  question  of  a  play  for  the 
Theatre  Frangais,  but  of  Frederick  Lemaitre  and  the  Porte-Saint- 
Martin.  These  were  stirring  theatrical  days  for  Balzac.  In  addition 
to  the  refusal  of  r&cole  des  menages  by  the  Renaissance,  Vautrin  had 
failed,  and  Lemaitre  had  refused  Richard  Cceur-d^eponge.  The 
ardent  dramatist  was  now  searching  about  with  eagerness  for  a  part 
to  fit  Lemaitre's  popular  genius.  To  Mme  Hanska  he  writes  on 
May  10: 

EUe  est  enfin  trouv6e,  et  je  vous  6cris  au  milieu  des  travaux  que  necessite  Mer cadet 
Mercadet  est  le  combat  d'un  homme  centre  ses  cr6anciers,  les  ruses  dont  il  se  sert  pour 
leur  6chapper.  C'est  exclusivement  une  comedie,  et  j'espere  cette  fois  avoir  un 
succes  et  satisfaire  les  exigences  litteraires.'^ 

By  June  of  the  same  year  the  play  was  ready,  but  the  actor  for  whom 
the  principal  r61e  was  destined  wished  certain  changes  made,  and 
there  seem  also  to  have  been  serious  difficulties  with  the  management 
of  the  theatre: 

Les  int^rdts  qui  se  battent  sur  le  cadavre  de  la  Porte-Saint-Martin  en  emp^hent 
I'ouverture  provisoire  que  le  ministre  m'avait  accordee.' 

In  1844,  Mercadet,  according  to  the  author's  own  statement,  was  not 
finished.     After  the  opening  performance  of  Sue's  Mysteres  de  Paris 

^  See  Alfred  Nettement  in  la  Gazette  de  France,  February  21,  1839;  also,  Gautier 
in  la  Presse,  March  11,  1839. 

^LE/.,  Vol.  I,  p.  536. 

^  Ibid.,  p.  540.  Gautier,  in  la  Presse  of  June  2,  1840,  declares  that  Mer- 
cadet, with  a  prologue  and  epilogue,  has  been  finished:  "Voici  qu'on  a  la  piece  et  les 
acteurs;  mais  quand  aura-t-on  un  theatre?" 

According  to  Lovenjoul,  Un  Roman  d'  amour,  p.  150,  the  play  was  written  in  1839. 
The  author  states,  however,  that  he  means  a  first  version  of  Mercadet;  that  le  Faiseur 
of  1849  is  an  entirely  different  play.  "Comme  pour  Richard  Cceur-d'eponge,"  he  says, 
"Balzac  a  traits  plusieurs  fois  le  meme  sujet,  et  toujours  diff^remment."  Cited  by 
Eire,  Honore  de  Balzac,  p.  229,  note. 


116  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

on  February  14,  1844,  speaking  of  Frederick  Lemaltre's  success, 
Balzac  writes: 

Je  suis  content  du  succfe  qu'il  va  donner  aux  Mysteries,  car  cela  me  donne  le 
temps  d'achever  Mercadet.* 

It  was  undoubtedly  at  this  moment  that  the  original  play  written 
for  Lemaitre  in  1840  was  reworked  and  finished.  In  March  of  1844 
preparations  for  a  production  of  the  play  at  the  Porte-Saint-Martin 
ceased: 

On  veut  une  pi^ce  gaie  k  la  Porte-Saint-Martin,  et,  dans  Tintdr^t  actuel  de  I'atmos- 
phere  dramatique  du  Boulevard,  il  y  a  certainement  [la]  un  besoin  a  satisfaire;  apres 
les  images  d^gotitantes  des  demidres  assises  de  la  societe,  quelque  dr6lerie  est  n6ces- 
saire.  Je  lui  ai  promis  de  lui  en  donner  une,  car  Mercadet  est  trop  comSdie  et  trop 
litt6raire  pour  la  Porte-Saint-Martin.^ 

In  1848,  Mercadet  had  not  found  a  resting  place  in  any  theatre  in 
Paris.  The  author  was  at  this  moment  desirous  of  taking  it  to  the 
Theatre  Fran^ais.  He  had  changed  the  name  from  Mercadet  to 
le  Speculateur,^  and  later  to  le  Faiseur,  for  it  was  under  this  title  that 
the  play  was  read  to  the  Comedie  Fran  false,  August  17,  1848.'' 

In  September  of  1848,  Balzac  left  Paris  for  a  visit  to  Russia. 
During  his  absence  the  play  was  again  read  to  the  Comedie  Francaise, 
and  this  time  the  register  for  September  14  and  15  reads:  "La 
piece  est  rejue  a  corrections.'*  Learning  of  this,  Balzac  wrote  to 
Michel  Levy  on  January  19,  1849: 

La  fafon  dont  la  Com6die-Frangaise  a  accueilli  la  piece  du  Faiseur,  en  manquant 
a  des  conventions  prealables  qui  I'engageaient,  m'a  oblige  a  retirer  la  piece.^ 

Objecting  to  the  changes  which  the  Comedie  Francaise  wished  to 
make,  Balzac  asked  that  his  play  be  withdrawn.^ 

*  Corr.,  p.  386. 

» LEt.,  Vol.  II,  p.  329. 

•  Corr.y  p.  561.    Letter  to  his  sister,  1847. 

'  The  theatrical  register  reads  as  follows:  "Le  comite,  preside  par  M.  Lockroy, 
entend  la  lecture  d'une  comedie  en  cinq  actes,  en  prose,  intitul6e  le  Faiseur,  par  M.  H. 
de  Balzac.     Regue  a  I'unanimite."     Cited  by  Eire,  Honore  de  Balzac,  p.  250. 

8  Corr.,  p.  590. 

"  Bir6,  Honore  de  Balzac,  pp.  261,  262,  note,  quotes  the  following  interesting  letter 
from  Arsene  Houssaye,  at  the  time  director  of  the  Theatre  Frangais,  to  Georges  Malet, 
dated  1893:  "Je  n'ai  pas  refus6  la  piece  de  Balzac,  bien  au  contraire,  je  I'ai  vu  en  ses 
demiers  jours  pour  causer  de  ses  comddies.  C'est  sous  ma  direction  qu'on  a  jou6  les 
pieces  de  Musset.  Je  voulais  ^galement  qu'on  jouat  les  pieces  de  Balzac  a  la  Comedie 
francaise.  Seulement  Balzac  6tait  comme  Lamartine,  qui  aurait  voulu  Dieu  le  p^re 
pour  jouer  le  r6le  de  Toussaint  Louvzrture.  Mais  s'il  etait  revenu  a  la  sante,  tout  se 
serait  arrange,  parce  que  nous  voulions  bien  tous  les  deux.  Vous  savez  mon  point  de 
vue  sur  le  theS.tre:  toute  piece  d'un  homme  sup6rieur,  quels  que  soient  ses  d^fauts, 
devient  une  bonne  piece  avec  de  bons  com6diens." 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  117 

One  month  after  the  break  with  the  Theatre  Frangais,  Hostein, 
director  of  the  Theatre  Historique,  hastened  to  offer  his  house  for 
le  Faiseur}^  But  Hostein  likewise  desired  certain  modifications  in 
the  play  to  suit  the  tastes  of  his  audiences,  and  again  Balzac  refused 
his  consent  to  the  alterations.  To  Laurent- Jan,  who  was  entrusted 
with  the  dramatist's  interests  while  the  latter  was  in  Russia,  Balzac 
writes: 

Ma  soeur  m'ecrit  les  6tranges  transformations  que  Hostein  veut  faire  subir  au 
Faiseur.  Ton  esprit  et  ta  raison  ont  dii  te  demontrer  avant  ma  lettre  qu'il  est  impossible 
de  changer  une  comedie  de  caractere  en  un  gros  m61odrame. 

Je  n'ai  jamais  pens6  que  cette  piece  pllt  aller  au  boulevard  sans  Fr6d^rick  Lemaitre, 
Clarence,  Fechter  et  Colbrun. 

Done,  je  m'oppose  formellement  a  ce  qu'on  la  travestisse.  Mais  je  n'emp^che 
pas  que  Hostein  fasse  faire  une  piece  sur  ce  sujet;  seulement,  il  faut  que  tu  saches  et 
que  tu  discs  qu'au  th^itre  personne  ne  s'int6resse  aux  affaires  d'argent;  elles  sont 
antidramatiques  et  ne  peuvent  donner  lieu  qu'a  des  comedies  comme  celle  du  Faiseur, 
qui  rentre  dans  I'ancien  genre  des  pieces  a  caractere. 

Done,  je  me  resume:  ma  piece  restera  telle  qu'elle  est.  Les  sujets  sont  k  tout  le 
monde.  Hostein,  qui  a  une  grande  habitude  du  th6dtre,  n'en  fera  pas  faire  un  drame, 
car  il  faudrait  alors  aller  jusqu'£t  I'assassinat  pour  interesser." 

Mercadet  was  not  accepted  until  a  year  after  the  author's  death, 
when  Montigny,  director  of  the  Theatre  du  Gymnase,  presented 
it  at  his  theatre,  August  23,  1851.  After  Balzac's  death  the  play 
had  been  put  into  the  hands  of  a  professional  dramatist  and  play- 
wright, Adolphe  D'Ennery,^^  who  reduced  the  five  long  acts  to  three, 
and  put  the  comic  elements  into  bolder  relief.  It  was  produced 
under  the  title  of  Mercadet}^  The  play,  as  treated  in  this  study, 
is  the  original  version  made  by  Balzac. 

On  the  day  following  the  first  performance,  the  Minister  of 
Interior,  Leon  Faucher,  ordered  the  play  to  be  suppressed.  On  the 
twenty-fourth,  the  play  was  cut,  and  no  representation  was  given 
on  the  twenty-fifth,  but  the  following  day  it  reappeared  on  the 
boards,  having  undergone  certain  changes  in  accord  with  the  demands 
of  the  authorities.     Lovenjoul  has  published  from  la  Revue  et  gazette 

^0  Corr.,  pp.  591,  592. 

11  Ihid.,  pp.  599,  600. 

12 1811-1899.  £.mile,  ou  lefils  d'un  pair  de  France  was  his  first  play.  Among  his 
other  plays  worthy  of  mention  are,  les  Chevaliers  du  brouillard,  I'Aveugle,  Don  Cesar  de 
Bazin,  les  Bohemiens  de  Paris.  He  worked  in  collaboration  with  Jules  Brazil,  Cormon, 
Dugu6,  Clairville,  and  with  the  majority  of  contemporary  dramatists. 

"  For  the  names  in  the  projected  cast  at  the  Theatre  Frangais,  see  Lovenjoul, 
Hisloire  des  ceuvres  de  Balzac,  p.  223. 


118  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

des  thSdtres,  August  28,  1851,  an  interesting  history  of  the  inter- 
diction of  the  play,  a  part  of  which  reads  as  follows : 

Beaucoup  de  bruits  ont  couru  au  sujet  de  cette  suspension  momentan6e.  II 
parait  que  le  premier  jour  les  acteurs  par  suite  d'un  exces  de  memoire,  ont  eu  Timpru- 
dence  de  livrer  au  public  des  mots,  des  passages  qui  avaient  ete  supprim^s  par  la 
Commission  d'examen.^* 

On  October  22,  1868,  the  Theatre  Frangais  gave  its  first  perform- 
ance of  Mercadet  with  Got  in  the  principal  r61e.  Thirty  performances 
were  given  at  this  theatre  during  the  year.^^ 

Mercadet,  according  to  its  original  version,  was  published  first 
in  le  Pays,  August  28  to  September  13,  1851,  under  the  title  of 
Mercadet.  The  play  appeared  in  one  volume,  in- 18,  the  same  year 
published  at  the  Librairie  the^trale,  formerly  the  Maison  Marchant, 
boulevard  Saint-Martin,  12.  It  was  published,  one  volume  in-12, 
by  Cadot  in  1853  under  the  name  of  le  Faiseur,  In  1865,  le  Faiseur 
was  added  to  the  complete  works,  forming  a  part  of  Volume  XVIII.^® 


The  action  takes  place  in  1839,  at  the  home  of  a  stock-jobber, 
Mercadet.  We  are  at  a  moment  when  this  speculator,  the  hero  of  a 
hundred  doubtful  transactions  and  equivocal  manipulations  of  funds, 
is  beset  on  all  sides  by  his  creditors,  and  is  really  in  desperate  straits. 
To  all  outward  appearances  Mercadet  is  rich  and  respectable:  his 
family  occupies  an  elegant  eleven-room  apartment,  Rue  de  Gram- 
mont,  his  servants  are  in  livery;  a  legend  has  grown  up,  moreover, 
about  the  confiscation  of  certain  funds  belonging  to  Mercadet  and 
Company  by  a  business  associate  named  Godeau,  and  the  latter's 
flight  to  the  Indies — a  legend  which  lends  a  lustre  to  the  firm's  name, 
and  to  Mercadet's  position.  We  learn  something  of  the  real  nature 
of  Mercadet's  affairs  first  from  the  servants,  after  an  interminably 
long  scene  at  the  opening  of  the  play  between  Mercadet  and  his 
landlord — a  scene  happily  cut  in  its  entirety  by  the  adapter.  Mer- 
cadet owes  the  servants  an  accumulat  on  of  wages,  and  they  have 
seen  creditors  flocking  about  his  house.  We  learn  also  that  Mercadet 
has  determined  to  marry  his  daughter  to  a  certain  wealthy  young 

"  Un  Roman  d' amour,  pp.  153-7. 

^5  A.  Soubies,  la  Comedie  franqaise  depuis  Vepoque  romantique.  1825-1894,    1895. 

^^Lovenjoul,  Histoire  des  csuvres  de  Balzac,  p.  223.  An  English  adaptation  of 
Mercadet,  made  by  George  Henry  Lewes,  and  called  A  Game  of  Speculation,  was  acted 
in  England  and  the  United  States  by  Charles  Mathews. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  119 

gentleman  whose  name  is  La  Brive;  that  the  daughter  quite  naturally 
loves  another — in  fact,  a  poor  bookkeeper  of  bastard  birth  in  her 
father's  employ,  whose  name  is  Minard.  Preparations  are  being 
made  for  a  great  dinner,  at  which  Julie,  the  speculator's  daughter, 
is  to  be  presented  to  the  man  of  her  father's  choice.  Mercadet  gives 
his  orders  to  the  cook — taking  occasion,  by  the  way,  to  persuade 
her  to  turn  over  her  savings  to  him,  with  the  promise  of  twenty 
francs  per  year  interest.  Enters  the  worst  of  his  creditors,  a  man 
named  Goulard.  But  Mercadet,  in  debt,  a  son-in-law  to  capture, 
and  a  dinner  to  give,  is  undaunted.  In  fact,  he  is  keen  for  the  fray. 
With  a  magnificent  gesture  to  his  wife,  he  approaches  Goulard. 
Before  the  latter  has  ceased  chuckling  over  his  opportune  encounter 
with  this  debtor,  Mercadet  already  has  him  in  his  toils.  Goulard 
has  been  dealing  heavily  in  a  certain  Basse-Indre  stock,  "une  affaire 
superbe."  "Superbe!"  say  Mercadet,  "oui,  pour  ceux  qui  ont  fait 
vendre  hier."  Goulard  becomes  alarmed.  "On  a  vendu!"  he 
exclaims.  "En  secret,"  replies  Mercadet  significantly,  "dans  la 
coulisse!  vous  verrez  la  baisse  aujourd'hui  et  demain."  "Merci, 
Mercadet,  nous  causerons  plus  tard  de  nos  petites  affaires,"  and, 
thoroughly  alarmed,  the  creditor  makes  a  hasty  departure.  Mer- 
cadet smiles  to  his  wife  with  contentment.  With  expansion  he 
turns  now  to  his  daughter,  Julie,  to  tell  her  of  his  ambitious  plans 
for  her  future.  But  Julie  is  romantic,  she  loves  a  poor  man,  and 
romance  has  no  place  in  her  father's  life. 

In  the  second  act,  we  see  another  encounter  of  Mercadet  and 
his  creditors.  This  time  it  is  a  poor  broken  old  man  to  whom 
Mercadet  has  been  in  debt  for  many  years.  Violette  assumes  no 
lordly  airs  of  superiority,  but  begs  for  his  money,  and  talks  of 
wretched  poverty.  Mercadet  responds  in  the  same  strain- — he  has 
a  mood  for  every  affair — talks  of  his  own  poverty  and  sends  the  old 
man  off,  richer  by  sixty  francs.  In  the  meantime  the  finances 
necessary  for  the  approaching  dinner  are  lacking.  It  is  to  Verdelin, 
Mercadet's  good  friend  Verdelin,  that  the  speculator  now  turns. 
But  Verdelin  is  obstinate,  even  in  the  face  of  the  pantomime  of 
agony  which  Mercadet  employs.  It  is  only  the  latter's  threats  of 
suicide,  and  the  pitiable  state  of  his.  family  that  finally  bring  the 
needed  response  from  the  good  friend. 

Mercadet's  next  encounter  is  with  his  daughter  and  her  lover. 
These  two  plead  their  case  with  much  ardor,  talking  of  love  free 


120  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

from  obstacles,  based  on  the  certitude  of  mutual  passion,  etc.,  etc., 
all  of  which  Mercadet  cannot  understand: 

Ma  fiUe,  va  voir  ta  mere;  laisse-moi  parler  d'affaires  beaucoup  moins  immat6rielles. 
Quelle  que  soit  la  puissance  de  I'id^al  sur  la  beauts  des  femmes,  elle  n'a  malheureuse- 
ment  aucune  influence  sur  les  rentes.^' 

Minard  must  be  put  off,  and  the  speculator  is  not  long  about  it. ' 
What  course  would  the  young  suitor  take  if  he  believed  his  lady-love 
penniless?  Mercadet  pretends  absolute  poverty,  and  the  poor  clerk, 
who  has  seen  his  "pure  love"  through  a  mist  of  substantial  dowry, 
now  hesitates,  unwilling  to  assume  a  responsibility  which  eventually 
might  bring  grief  to  his  beloved. 

In  the  third  act,  the  young  blood  and  dandy  whom  Mercadet  has 
chosen  for  a  son-in-law  appears:  La  Brive,  he  calls  himself,  a  mas- 
querader  under  a  false  name,  with  tales  of  wealth  and  position.  As 
Mercadet  has  been  led  to  believe  that  this  impostor  has  a  substantial 
fortune,  so  La  Brive  has  also  been  tricked  by  tales  of  Mercadet's 
wealth.  Father  and  future  son-in-law  sit  down  to  discuss  the 
marriage  settlement;  La  Brive  talks  of  his  pine  trees  and  salt  marshes 
in  a  manner  that  delights  the  speculative  soul  of  Mercadet:  "Vos 
terres,  vos  marais,"  cries  the  father-in-law,  "car  je  vois  tout  le  parti 
qu'on  peut  tirer  de  ces  marais!  On  pent  former  une  societe  en  com- 
mandite pour  I'exploitation  des  marais  salants  de  la  Brive!  II  y  a 
la  plus  d'un  million,  monsieur."^^  Already  he  is  rich;  he  sees  his 
daughter's  Paris  house,  her  carriages,  her  gala  fetes;  he  reaches 
superb  heights  of  eloquence.  Finally  the  two  young  people  meet. 
In  the  midst  of  La  Brive's  stupid  attempts  at  love-making  Julie 
tells-  him  that  her  father  is  a  ruined  man,  hoping  by  this  means  to 
cool  his  ardor.  But  La  Brive  does  not  believe  her.  Finally,  comes  the 
unmasking,  when  the  usurer,  Pierquin,  one  of  Mercadet's  creditors, 
recognizes  La  Brive  as  a  certain  "gibier  de  Clichy"  of  his  acquaintance. 
But  Mercadet,  not  to  be  outdone,  reveals  to  La  Brive  his  own  share 
of  deception,  whereupon  the  two  worthies  put  their  heads  together 
for  a  scheme  of  mutual  betterment.  La  Brive  has  duped  him  with 
his  salt  marshes  and  his  pines;  very  good.  Mercadet  has  none  the 
less  deceived  La  Brive,  and  Monsieur  Mercadet  is  an  honest  man. 
The  two  must  combine  their  wits.  Dinner  is  announced — the  famous 
dinner  given  in  the  son-in-law's  honor.     Mercadet  is  now  jubilant. 

^^  Act  II,  scene  9. 
i»  Act  III,  scene  8. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  121 

"Je  serai  le  Napoleon  des  affaires,"  he  cries  to  his  friend  Verdelin, 
who,  none  the  less,  fears  an  approaching  Waterloo. 

In  the  fourth  act  Mercadet's  great  scheme  is  disclosed:  La  Brive 
will  be  the  missing  Godeau,  returned  penitent  and  rich  from  the 
Indies!  Basse-Indre  stock,  due  to  a  panic  instigated  by  Mercadet, 
is  selling  at  a  low  rate ;  the  false  Godeau  will  buy  innumerable  shares 
of  it,  and  sell  as  soon  as  the  inevitable  rise  occurs.  With  lightning- 
like rapidity  the  news  of  Godeau's  return  is  spread  abroad,  and 
Mercadet's  creditors  begin  to  fawn  at  his  feet.  But  where  is  the 
missing  Godeau,  they  ask.  Whereupon  the  audacious  speculator 
ushers  him  in.  But  the  honest  Mme  Mercadet,  a  silent  spectator 
until  this  moment  during  all  her  husband's  business  dealings,  now 
denounces  La  Brive  as  a  fraud,  determined  to  save  her  husband  from 
downright  dishonesty.  With  unaccustomed  energy  she  holds  up 
to  her  husband  and  to  La  Brive  her  code  of  honesty  and  loyalty,  and 
poor  Mercadet,  once  more  ruined,  is  again  about  to  face  his  irate 
creditors.  Minard,  the  poor  clerk,  now  comes  to  the  rescue  and 
offers  to  marry  Julie,  and  the  act  closes  upon  the  two  lovers  reunited 
around  the  ruined  father. 

In  the  final  act,  with  the  stock  bought  by  the  supposed  Godeau 
upon  Mercadet's  conscience,  the  miracle  of  miracles  happens,  and 
the  real  Godeau  arrives!  Godeau  just  as  he  has  been  announced, 
rich  and  penitent,  and  married  to  Minard 's  mother!  Julie  now 
accepts  her  wealthy  lover,  while  Mercadet,  with  a  salutatory  to  for- 
tune on  his  lips,  bids  speculation  adieu,  having  had  his  fill  of  its 
agitations  and  thrills. 


We  have  seen  that  Balzac,  from  the  time  that  his  play  was 
finished  until  his  death,  refused  to  make  the  changes  in  composition 
which  were  demanded  by  actor  and  manager  alike:  first,  by  Frederick 
Lemaitre,  for  whom  the  principal  r61e  was  written;  then  by  the 
management  of  the  Porte-Saint-Martin,  and  later  by  the  Comedie 
Fran  false,  who  received  the  play  with  corrections  which  the  author 
would  not  countenance.  When  the  play  became  the  property  of 
the  Gymnase  theatre,  the  changes  in  composition  which  were  deemed 
necessary  were  entrusted,  as  we  have  seen,  to  the  professional 
playwright,  D'Ennery.  In  the  main,  D'Ennery  has  corrected  the 
salient  faults  of  composition,  changing  the  grouping  of  certain 
scenes  that  were  badly  arranged,  and  omitting  others.     For  example, 


122  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

the  scene  in  the  second  act  between  Mercadet  and  Violette,  excellent, 
but  insufficiently  developed,  the  adapter  placed  in  the  first  act.  The 
long  scene  between  Mercadet  and  his  landlord  he  has  omitted.  By 
weeding  out  certain  unnecessary  scenes,  the  adapter  reduced  the 
five  acts  to  three,  cutting  the  details  which  hindered  the  action.  The 
comic  elements,  as  a  result  of  this  rearrangement,  were  put  into 
bolder  relief.  In  the  second  act,  the  character  of  Minard  was 
changed  by  D'Ennery.  Instead  of  the  young  lover's  renunciation 
of  Julie  after  he  learns  that  she  will  come  to  him  without  dowry, 
D'Ennery  has  Minard  glorify  his  poverty,  and  declare  to  Mercadet 
that  he  can  now  ask  for  his  daughter's  hand  with  assurance  and 
gladness,  a  speech  which  must  have  delighted  the  boulevard  audience 
for  whom  the  "jeune  premier"  must  always  be  noble-minded  and 
and  self-sacrificing.  In  the  last  scenes  as  depicted  by  the  adapter, 
Godeau  actually  appears  upon  the  stage,  and  Mercadet,  taking  ten 
thousand  francs  from  him,  lends  them  to  La  Brive,  exclaiming:  "Ah! 
je  suis.  .  .creancier!  je  suis  creancier!"  Without  further  discussion 
of  D'Ennery's  adaptation,  let  us  consider  Balzac's  composition  of 
the  play. 

We  remark  first  of  all  few  dramatic  intrigues  and  a  relative 
simplicity  of  action.  The  march  of  the  comedy  is  towards  the 
development  of  one  character,  the  center  and  pivot  of  the  action. 
Mercadet  may  then  be  regarded  as  a  comedy  of  manners,  where  the 
interest  lies  primarily  in  the  painting  of  character.  To  this  the 
situations  are  subordinate.  Having  this  central  figure  once  fixed  in 
mind,  Balzac  has  built  his  situations  around  it.  By  depicting  a 
series  of  conflicts  between  the  speculator  and  his  opponents,  he 
has  constructed  an  action  that  is  ingenious,  and  scenes  that  are 
strikingly  well-managed.  In  rapid  succession,  Mercadet  meets 
and  defeats  his  creditors — first  Goulard,  and  then  the  usurer,  Pier- 
quin.  Between  these  two  scenes,  as  a  sort  of  interlude,  is  placed  the 
clash  between  Mercadet  and  his  daughter,  serving  to  relieve  the 
financial  tone  of  the  act,  and  to  introduce  one  of  the  main  complica- 
tions in  the  action.  With  the  second  act,  the  conflict  becomes  more 
acute,  more  obstinate.  After  the  capital  scene  with  Verdelin,  where 
Mercadet  threatens  suicide,  comes  the  encounter  with  Julie's  lover, 
in  which  the  serious  tone  of  th^  comedy  rises.  Following  this,  the 
dramatist  introduces  a  scene  of  "depit  amoureux,"  to  relieve  the 
tension,  and  the  act  closes  with  the  despair  of  Julie.  In  the  third 
act  we  are  ready  for  the  definite  crises  of  the  play.     The  preparation 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  123 

is  complete:  Mercadet  has  outwitted  his  creditors,  and  has  turned 
aside  Julie's  lover.  Will  his  ambitious  schemes  for  a  rich  marriage 
succeed?  Mercadet's  encounter  with  La  Brive  leads  to  the  comic 
scene  of  unmasking,  when  the  two  rogues  decide  to  combine  their 
wits.  Finally,  we  arrive  at  the  climax,  and  the  complete  defeat  of 
Mercadet.  With  the  close  of  the  fourth  act,  Balzac  has  exhibited 
a  real  art  in  exciting  the  interest  of  his  spectators.  With  Mercadet's 
despairing  words:  *'Je  sais  ce  qui  me  reste  a  faire,"  we  ask  our- 
selves what  is  going  to  happen,  now  that  the  speculator's  crowning 
scheme  is  overthrown.  Finally  comes  the  return  of  the  missing 
Godeau,  and  the  closing  scenes  of  real  comic  character. 

In  spite  of  the  ingenuity  which  Balzac  has  employed  in  the 
composition  of  Mercadet,  there  are  certain  serious  faults  that  must 
be  noted.  The  first  of  these  is  prolixity:  Balzac  has  not  been  capable 
of  judging  fairly  or  accurately  the  limits  of  his  action.  He  has 
crowded  too  much  upon  the  stage,  and  there  results  a  superabundance 
of  scenes  in  which  the  action  drags,  and  where  the  comedy  is  not 
exposed  with  clear  relief.  The  figure  of  the  ''faiseur"  is  constantly 
before  the  footlights;  he  is  present  in  almost  every  scene.  No  doubt 
this  is  a  difficulty  which  Lemaitre  saw  when  he  read  the  play,  and 
one  which  may  have  determined  his  refusal  of  the  role. 

Another  fault,  no  less  serious,  is  the  presence  of  more  than  one 
confused  bit  of  action.  The  many  ruses  of  the  speculator  and  the 
commercial  stratagems  which  he  employs,  all  take  place  in  too 
short  a  time.  We  are  bewildered  by  the  succession  of  schemes 
employed  by  Mercadet.  Balzac  has  made  the  financial  questions 
needlessly  obscure.  Here  we  observe  the  dramatist's  own  passion 
for  complicated  business  deals,  his  own  interest  in  market  quotations, 
matters  difficult  for  the  non-professional  to  follow.  To  expose  a 
series  of  rises  and  falls  in  stocks,  or  to  interest  the  spectators,  as 
Scribe  has  done  for  instance  in  les  Actionnaires,^^  in  the  buying  and 
selling  of  stock,  the  dramatist  must  explain  himself  with  the  utmost 
simplicity  and  clearness,  and  this  Balzac  has  not  always  done. 

We  have  seen,  throughout  the  five  copious  acts,  that  the  figure 
of  Mercadet  is  constantly  before  the  audience.  As  a  result  of  this 
lack  of  measure,  both  performer  and  audience  are  at  a  disadvantage, 
for  no  role,  however  well  presented  dramatically  and  psychologically, 

*^  Comedie-vaudeville  in  one  act,  written  in  collaboration  with  Bayard;  Gymnase 
October  22,  1829.  Theatre  complet  d' Eugene  Scribe,  second  edition.  Paris,  Aim6 
Andr6,  1837,  vol.  XVIII. 


124  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

can  retain  its  interest  when  the  author  has  taxed  to  the  utmost  the 

endurance  of  actor  and  the  attention  of  spectator.     Balzac  allows 

Mercadet  to  talk  with  exuberant  spirits;  his  encounters  with  the 

creditors  sparkle  with  vivacity  and  wit  and  verve.     Here  the  author 

,    is  in  his  rightful  sphere;  he  is  not  hampered  with  the  historical 

J  j    characters  of  a  past  age,  nor  the  setting  of  a  Directorate  drawing- 

i  I    room;  he  is  in  the  present-day  world  of  commercial  folk  whom  he 

<  i     knows,  and  he  has  much  to  tell  us.     Let  us  take  an  example  of  the 

'       dialogue  in  one  of  these  scenes — the  encounter  of  Mercadet  and 

Goulard,  the  most  dangerous  of  "ces  messieurs"  who  haunt  the 

speculator's  home.     Mercadet  rebukes  his  wife  for  interrupting  the 

conversation,  and  the  scene  continues: 

Mercadet:  Ma  femme  a  tort  de  se  meler  de  notre  conversation,  les  femmes 
n'entendent  rien  aux  affaires!  {A  sa  femme.)  Monsieur  est  mon  creancier,  ma  ch^re; 
il  vient  me  demander  le  montant  de  sa  creance  en  capital,  int^rSts  et  frais,  car  vous  ne 
m'avez  pas  menag6,  Goulard.  .  .  Ah!  vous  avez  rudement  poursuivi  un  homme  avec 
qui  vous  faisiez  des  affaires  considerables! 

Goulard:    Des  affaires  ou  tout  n'a  pas  ete  benefice.  .  . 

Mercadet:  Ou  serait  le  m6rite?  si  elles  ne  donnaient  que  des  benefices,  tout  le 
monde  ferait  des  affaires!  ,  .  . 

Goulard:  Je  ne  viens  pas  chercher  les  preuves  de  votre  esprit,  je  sais  que  vous 
en  avez  plus  que  moi,  car  vous  avez  mon  argent.  .  . 

Mercadet :  Eh  bien,  il  f aut  que  I'argent  soit  quelque  part !  {A  madame  Mercadet.) 
Tu  vois  en  monsieur  un  homme  qui  m'a  poursuivi  comme  un  lievre!  Allons!  convenez- 
en,  mon  cher  Goulard,  vous  vous  etes  mal  conduit!  Un  autre  que  moi  se  vengerait 
en  ce  moment,'  car  je  puis  vous  faire  perdre  une  bien  grosse  somme.  .  . 

Goulard:  Si  vous  ne  me  payez  pas,  je  le  crois  bien;  mais  vous  me  payerez,  ou, 
demain,  les  pieces  seront  remises  au  garde  de  commerce.  .  . 

Mercadet:  Oh!  il  ne  s'agit  pas  de  ce  que  je  vous  dois,  vous  n'avez  li-dessus 
aucune  inquietude,  ni  moi  non  plus;  mais  il  s'agit  de  capitaux  bien  plus  considerables! 
Rien  ne  m'a  etonn6  comme  de  vous  savoir,  vous,  homme  d'un  coup  d'oeil  si  sur,  vous 
a  qui  je  demanderais  un  conseil,  de  vous  savoir  encore  engage  dans  cette  affaire-la!  .  .  . 
vous!  .  .  .  Enfin  nous  avons  tous  nos  moments  d'erreur.  .  . 

Goulard:    Mais  quoi?  .  .  . 

Mercadet:  {A  sa  femme.)  Tu  ne  le  croirais  jamais!  (A  Goulard.)  Elle  a  fini 
par  se  connaitre  en  speculations,  elle  a  un  tact  pour  les  juger!  ...  (A  sa  femme.) 
Eh  bien,  ma  chere,  Goulard  y  est  pour  une  somme  tres-considerable. 

Madame  Mercadet:     Monsieur!  .  .  . 

Goulard:  (A  part.)  Ce  Mercadet,  il  a  le  genie  de  la  speculation:  mais  veut-il 
encore  m'amuser?     {A  Mercadet.)     Que  voulez-vous  dire?     De  quoi  s'agit-il? 

Mercadet:  Vous  le  savez  bien!.  .  .  On  sait  toujours  ou  le  bat  nous  blesse,  quand 
on  porte  des  actions. 

Goulard:     Serait-ce  les  mines  de  la  basse  Indre?  une  affaire  superbe!  .  .  . 

Mercadet:    Superbe!  .  .  .  oui,  pour  ceux  qui  ont  fait  vendre  hier.  .  . 

Goulard:    On  a  vendu?.  .  . 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  125 

Mercadet:  En  secret,  dans  la  coulisse!  vous  verrez  la  baisse  aujourd'hui  et 
demain.    Oh!  demain,  quand  on  saura  ce  que  Ton  a  trouve.  .  . 

Goulard:  Merci!  Mercadet,  nous  causerons  plus  tard  de  nos  petites  aflfaires. 
Madame,  mes  hommages.  .  .^^ 

and  Goulard,  completely  defeated,  takes  a  hurried  leave.  The 
movement  of  this  scene  is  rapid,  and  the  comedy  is  excellent.  Again, 
in  the  scene  with  Pierquin,  there  are  repeated  flashes  of  wit  and 
picturesque  turns  of  phrase:  **L'usurier,"  Mercadet  tells  him, 
**c'est  un  capitaliste  qui  se  fait  sa  part  d'avance."^^  In  the  scenes 
between  Mercadet  and  La  Brive  the  dialogue  is  managed  with  the 
ease  of  a  master  of  comedy.  Mercadet  praises  his  daughter's 
qualities  in  the  following  words: 

Mercadet:  Oh!  il  n'y  a  que  Vkme  et  I'id^al.  Je  suis  de  mon  epoque.  Je  con^ois 
cela,  moi!  L'ideal,  fleur  de  la  vie!  Monsieur,  c'est  un  effet  de  la  loi  des  contrastes. 
Comme  jamais  il  n'y  a  eu  plus  de  positif  dans  les  affaires,  on  a  senti  le  besoin  de  I'iddal 
dans  les  sentiments.  Ainsi,  moi,  je  vais  a  la  Bourse,  et  ma  fille  se  jette  dans  les  nuages. 
Elle  est  d'une  poesie!  ...  oh!  elle  est  tout  ame!  Vous  ^tes,  je  le  vols,  de  I'^cole  des 
lacs.  .  . 

De  La  Brive:     Non,  monsieur. 

Mercadet:     Comment  alors  aimez-vous  Julie,  si  vous  ne  cultivez  pas  l'ideal?.  .  . 

De  La  Brive:    Monsieur,  je  suis  ambitieux.  .  . 

Mercadet:     Ah!  c'est  mieux. 

De  La  Brive:  Et  j'ai  vu  en  mademoiselle  Julie  une  personne  tr&s-distingu6e, 
pleine  d'esprit,  douee  de  charmantes  manieres,  qui  ne  sera  jamais  deplacee  en  quelque 
lieu  que  me  porte  ma  fortune;  et  c'est  une  des  conditions  essentielles  k  un  hcnmie 
politique. 

Mercadet:  Je  vous  comprends!  On  ti'ouve  toujours  une  femme,  mais  il  est 
trSs-rare  qu'un  homme  qui  veut  etre  ministre  ou  ambassadeur  rencontre  (disons  le  mot, 
noussommesentrehommes)  safemelle!  .  .  .  Vous  ^tes  un  homme  d'esprit,  monsieur  ,  .  . 

De  La  Brive:    Monsieur,  je  suis  socialiste.  .  P 

As  in  Cesar  BiroUeau,  la  Maison  Nucingen,  and  Gobseckj  Balzac 
has  lent  to  his  characters  the  argot  of  commerce,  and  all  their  financial 
preoccupations  are  reflected  in  what  they  have  to  say.  The  author, 
who  knows  the  mechanism  of  finance,  the  laws  governing  bank- 
ruptcy, the  little  details  of  the  stock-market,  reports  them  with 
scientific  exactitude.  But  there  is  too  much  of  this  in  the  play, 
and  the  auditor,  who  cannot  turn  back  at  will  to  refresh  his  memory, 
as  he  is  permitted  to  do  when  he  follows  out  the  intricate  problems 

20  Act  I,  scene  7. 

21  Act  I,  scene  13. 

22  Act  III,  scene  8. 


126  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

of  Birotteau's  rise  and  fall,  discovers  a  lack  of  dramatic  clearness  in 
the  play,  and  is  finally  bored. 

The  style  of  the  comedy  with  its  faults  of  diffuseness  and  obscurity 
already  noted,  is  none  the  less  energetic,  and  lends  itself  admirably 
to  the  study  of  manners.  There  are  certain  evidences,  however, 
of  Balzac's  fondness  for  the  pathetic  which  are  out  of  keeping  with 
the  general  tone  of  the  comedy.  When  Mercadet,  with  Godeau's 
name  on  his  conscience,  threatens  suicide,  we  descend  abruptly  into 
the  melodrama.  The  evident  intent  of  the  author  is  a  relief  from 
the  comedy,  just  as  Julie's  romantic  tirade  at  the  close  of  the  second 
act  serves  to  stir  the  audience  to  tears.  '  Here  Balzac  has  again 
failed  in  moderation.  Julie  is  too  romantic,  too  much  the  child  of 
La  Chaussee  to  suit  the  tone  of  his  comedy.  The  same  sort  of 
appeal  to  those  who  love  to  see  temptation  ultimately  resisted  is 
made  in  the  fourth  act  when  Mercadet  refuses  to  take  Minard's 
money. 

For  the  most  part,  Balzac  has  given  Mercadet  the  blunt,  unflat- 
tering language  of  contemporary  life,  filled  with  vigorous  phrases 
and  colored  with  a  wealth  of  picturesque  images.  In  so  doing,  he 
has  produced  a  style  admirably  suited  for  comedy.  His  faults  are 
grave  ones,  and  are  the  faults  of  a  novelist  treading  on  unfamiliar 
ground:  disregard  for  his  audience's  patience,  an  attempt  to  tell 
too  much,  with  the  result  of  obscurity.  He  has  also  sought  to 
relieve  his  comic  scenes  with  serious  moments,  but  the  result  is  a 
banal  renewal  of  the  violent  language  of  the  melodrama,  entirely  out 
of  keeping  with  the  general  tone  of  the  comedy. 


About  1840,  there  was  a  mania  in  France  for  the  organization  of 
joint  stock-companies,  while  jobbers  and  speculators  became  ramp- 
ant in  Paris.  This  activity  marks  one  of  the  leading  tendencies  of 
the  age  towards  business  and  commerce.  People  were  occupied 
with  making  money,  and  the  honest  were  no  more  numerous 
than  the  dishonest.  The  literature  of  the  period  is  impregnated 
with  this  lust  after  money  and  the  thirst  for  industrial  activity. 
It  is  needless  to  dwell  here  on  Balzac's  preoccupation  with  this  phase 
of  contemporary  life;  the  pages  of  the  Human  Comedy  swarm  with 
the  figures  of  stock-jobbers,  usurers,  business  men  and  bankers.  In 
la  Maison  Nucingen  (1837)  he  had  already  drawn  a  picture  of  the 
fraudulent  accumulation  of  capital  by  speculation.     Cesar  Birotteau 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  127 

is  ruined  by  the  evil  speculations  and  bankruptcy  of  his  principal 
debtors.  No  writer  was  better  prepared  for  the  task  of  placing  such 
types  before  the  world  in  all  their  hideousness.  Balzac  himself  had ' 
known  personally  a  number  of  these  figures  of  the  Bourse  and  the 
coulisse;  he  knew  moreover  the  feverish  excitement  of  the  specu- 
lator, and  his  own  dealings  in  finance  form  one  of  the  most  com- 
plicated chapters  of  his  life. 

Who  is  Mercadet?  A  stock-jobber  who  chooses  to  be  rich  and 
cares  little  about  the  means  employed  in  becoming  so.  He  is 
primarily  a  man  of  business,  but  a  business  carried  on  in  the  by-paths 
of  finance.  His  world  is  at  the  stock-market.  For  him  the  gold  mines 
are  no  longer  in  Mexico,  but  in  the  Place  de  la  Bourse.  From  the 
moment  he  enters  upon  the  scene  to  hold  our  attention  for  five  long 
acts,  we  are  made  aware  of  a  character  that  is  alert,  resourceful,  and 
occupied  mainly  with  efforts  to  outdo  his  creditors.  Above  all, 
he  is  ambitious.  He  is  a  man  who  desires  fortune  at  any  price, 
employing  the  expedients  which  seem  most  sufficient  to  himself. 
He  is  also  ambitious  for  social  success.     To  his  daughter  he  says: 

Vous  avez  des  talents,  de  rinstniction,  vous  pourrez  jouer  un  r6le  brillant  k  Paris. 
Si  vous  n'dtes  pas  la  femme  d'un  ministre,  vous  serez  peut-^tre  la  femme  d'un  pair  de 
France.    Je  suis  fache,  ma  fille,  de  n'avoir  pas  mieux  a  vous  offrir.'^' 

But  the  keynote  to  Mercadet's  character  is  probably  his  audacity. 
"On  paie  d'audace,"  he  declares,  and  indeed  this  is  the  only  way  in 
which  Mercadet  does  meet  his  creditors.  He  feels  himself  superior 
to  them,  for  he  has  their  money,  and  they  are  waiting  for  his.  With 
Buperb  assurance  he  says  to  Pierquin:  "Monsieur,  je  suis  assez 
riche  pour  ne  plus  souffrir  la  plaisanterie  de  personne,  pas  m^me 
d'un  creancier,"^^  and  it  is  after  this  fashion  that  he  meets  all  of 
those  unfortunate  people  who  dog  his  footsteps.  Fears  for  his  own 
future  or  for  that  of  his  family  never  disturb  him,  for  his  projects 
are  mainly  for  the  present,  and  he  is  convinced  that  the  future  will 
take  care  of  itself.  To  marry  off  his  daughter,  he  needs  two  weeks 
of  opulence;  after  that,  some  other  glittering  scheme  will  fall  handy, 
and  consequently  he  has  no  cause  for  alarm. 

Combined  with  audacity,  Mercadet  is  imbued  with  the  fever  of 
a  gambler.  He  undertakes  his  speculations  with  bravado.  The 
get-rich-quick  schemes  which  have  appealed  to  certain  spirits  of 

23  Act  I,  scene  10. 

24  Act  I,  scene  13. 


128  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

every  age  fill  him  with  unrest  and  he  has  no  peace  until  he  has  tried 
a  hand  at  them.  He  talks  of  an  "assurance  contre  les  chances  de 
recrutement;"  he  conceives  the  idea  of  a  company  for  the  exploitation 
of  La  Brive's  salt  marshes  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye.  Exact  figures 
enter  his  head  at  once;  he  begins  to  reckon  the  incomes:  "II  y  a 
la  plus  d'un  million,  Monsieur,"  he  says  to  his  future  son-in-law, 
and  the  plans  for  his  daughter's  future  are  momentarily  forgotten. 

Mercadet  is  also  a  man  of  expensive  tastes,  with  a  gambler's  love 
of  the  luxurious  and  the  showy.  At  all  costs  he  seeks  to  hide  his 
lack  of  funds  under  a  cloak  of  good  appearances.  He  is  delighted 
with  the  gowns  of  his  wife  and  daughter: 

Une  femme  est  une  enseigne  pour  un  speculateur.  .  .Quand,  a  rOp6ra  vous  vous 
montrez  avec  une  nouvelle  parure,  le  public  se  dit:  les  Asphaltes  vont  bien,  ou  la 
Providence  des  Families  est  en  hausse,  car  madame  Mercadet  est  d'une  elegance  l^^ 

He  loves  an  expensive  dinner,  and  talks  in  the  language  of  a  conois- 
seur  about  the  silver  and  the  family  arms  of  La  Brive's  home. 

What  are  we  to  say  about  Mercadet's  integrity?  He  is  certainly 
not  honest — he  stoops  low  enough  to  take  the  savings-bank  account 
of  his  cook — nor  is  he  altogether  dishonest.  He  is  artful  and  design- 
ing, and  besides,  feeble  of  character,  easily  led  astray.  Ruined  by 
the  flight  of  his  business  associate,  he  has  permitted  himself  to 
follow  the  methods  of  the  unscrupulous  speculators  with  whom  he 
is  daily  thrown.  As  he  is  more  clever  than  they,  he  finds  it  a  simple 
matter  to  deceive  them.  But  he  has  never  deliberately  stolen.  He 
has,  like  Scribe's  Piffart,^^  audacious  schemes  a-plenty,  dishonest 
ruses  at  hand,  but  his  conscience  is  elastic,  and  he  is  neither  a  black- 
guard nor  a  scoundrel.  The  fact  which  partially  excuses  him,  and 
prevents  him  from  becoming  antipathetic,  is  that  Mercadet's  victims 
are  little  better  than  he,  and  Balzac  is  careful  to  insist  on  this  fact. 
He  has  taken  apparent  pains  to  protect  him  even  to  the  point  of 
recompensing  him  in  the  end.  Mercadet  has  even  a  slight  advan- 
tage over  his  victims,  for  he  is  a  kind  husband  and  father,  and  has 
moreover  his  tender-hearted  moments,  as  when  he  shows  generosity 
to  the  ill-fortuned  Pere  Violette.  Balzac  has  given  Mercadet 
failings,  great  failings,  but  he  has  made  them  sympathetic. 

Balzac  has  also  made  a  real  comic  character  of  his  speculator; 
his  speeches  are  marked  at  times  by  sparkling  flashes  of  wit — for 

^  Act  I,  scene  6. 

^  Les  Actionnaires.  t 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  129 

example,  his  encounter  with  Goulard  in  the  first  act,  and  with  La 
Brive;  sometimes  with  torrents  of  mock-heroic  eloquence.  Like 
the  master  who  created  him,  Mercadet  possesses  a  great  fund  of 
natural  gaiety  and  good  humor.  He  is  fond  of  splendid-sounding 
phrases:  ''L'union  fait  la  force!  la  maxime  des  ecus  de  la  Repub- 
lique,"^^  he  remarks  jovially  to  Julie,  urging  her  to  marry  a  rich  man. 
In  his  scenes  with  the  supposed  La  Brive  he  is  feverishly  enthusiastic. 
Learning  of  the  dandy's  supposed  wealth,  he  cries  out  with  ardor: 
"Permittez-moi  de  vous  serrer  la  main  a  I'anglaise.''^^  When  later 
La  Brive  appears  disguised  as  Godeau,  with  exuberance  Mercadet 
calls  for  his  houka  and  tea.  Finally,  in  the  last  act,  he  reaches  the 
heights  of  eloquence  and  absurdity  in  his  address  to  fortune: 

Salut,  reine  des  rois,  archiduchesse  des  emprunts,  princesse  des  actions  et  mere 
du  credit! .  .  .Salut,  fortune  tant  recherch^e  ici,  et  qui,  pour  la  millieme  fois,  arrives 
des  Indes!29 

There  is  also  something  of  the  cynic  about  Mercadet,  and  a 
great  deal  of  satire  mingled  with  his  gaiety,  satire  expressed  at 
times  with  the  mocking  laughter  of  the  author  of  the  Human  Comedy 
behind  it: 

Ah!  un  homme  dans  le  malheur  ressemble  k  un  morceau  de  pain  jet6  dans  un 
vivier:  chaque  poisson  y  donne  un  coup  de  dent.^° 

This  is  the  word  of  the  dramatist  who  had  been  unmercifully  flayed 
by  the  press  of  Paris,  whose  indignation  had  for  years  been  kindled 
to  a  white  heat  by  the  unfriendly  and  unfair  pens  of  his  critics.  But 
in  Mercadet  we  are  able  to  see  more  than  one  personal  touch  of  the 
author.  Like  Mercadet,  Balzac  possessed  a  great  store  of  natural 
good  humor  which  seems  never  to  have  deserted  him,  in  spite  of 
shattered  dreams  and  feverish  labors.  To  his  creation  Balzac  also 
lends  a  portion  of  his  own  fund  of  "genie  gaulois"  and  pleasantry, 
and  something  of  his  frank  Rabelaisian  laughter.  In  Mercadet 
also  we  see  the  reflection  of  Balzac's  own  audacity  and  vanity, 
something  of  the  boastfulness  of  a  Meridional.  But  the  audacity 
of  Mercadet  is  a  trifle  exaggerated  and  lacks  naturalness,  and  his 

27  Act  I,  scene  10. 

28  Act  III,  scene  8. 
23  Act  V,  scene  6. 

3°  Act  I,  scene  1.  Compare  Quinola,  Act  I,  scene  1 :  "Un  homme  pauvre  qui  trouve 
une  bonne  idee  m'a  toujours  fait  I'effet  d'un  morceau  de  pain  dans  un  vivier:  chaque 
poisson  vient  lui  donner  un  coup  de  dent." 


130  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

vanity  is  of  a  grosser  quality,  possessing  none  of  the  naivete  that  is 
one  of  the  charms  of  Balzac.  Mercadet,  the  Napoleon  of  business, 
echoes  also  the  master's  great  boast  to  vie  with  the  lost  leader  of 
his  heart. 

To  Mercadet,  moreover,  Balzac  has  lent  his  own  imaginative 
qualities.  He  is  a  man  of  ideas — ideas,  it  must  be  noted,  tending 
to  one  goal,  until  they  become  a  sort  of  hallucination  with  him.  But 
his  plans  for  the  exploitation  of  salt  marshes,  for  deriving  a  revenue 
from  pine  trees,  were  not  chimerical;  no  more  were  Balzac's  Sardinian 
mines.  Something  of  the  dramatist's  great  craving  for  luxury  and 
elegance  he  has  also  depicted  in  the  character  of  the  speculator; 
but  with  Mercadet  this  never  becomes  an  obsession,  nor  does  it 
ever  turn  his  mind  from  the  bourse  or  his  creditors.  We  see  then 
that  Balzac  has  inspired  his  character  with  a  number  of  personal 
traits,  a  thing  which  he  has  done  with  no  other  of  his  stage  people.^^ 
It  must  not  be  forgotten  in  this  connection  also  that  the  character 
of  the  stock-jobber  was  written  for  a  special  actor,  and  that  Balzac 
regretted  all  his  life  that  Frederick  Lemaitre  had  not  played  the 
r61e.^^  After  the  comedian's  enormous  success  in  1834  in  Robert 
Macaire,  he  became  one  of  the  most  popular  figures  on  the  boulevard 
stage,  and  his  creation  of  the  cynical  charlatan  and  amiable  thief 
who  lives  by  his  dishonest  wits  became  the  model  for  more  than 
one  play  of  the  time.  Balzac  had  in  mind  the  popular  type  and 
the  popular  actor  when  he  planned  Monsieur  Mercadet.     Later  we 

'^  According  to  Lovenjoul,  there  are  evidences  of  other  originals  in  this  character, 
and  he  mentions  Victor  Bohain,  a  speculator  who  was  at  one  time  director  of  le  Figaro^ 
prefect  of  the  Charante,  associate  director  of  four  Parisian  theatres  and  founder  of  V  Europe 
Utteraire,  in  which  the  first  part  of  Eugenie  Grandet  was  published.  Bohain,  unfortunate 
in  his  speculations,  ended  his  days  in  poverty  and  bankruptcy.  Lovenjoul  also  makes 
the  following  interesting  citation  from  la  Revue  et  gazette  des  theatres,  August  24,  1851: 

"Balzac,  disait-on,  en  ecrivant  cette  comedie  [Mercadet],  avait  voulu  retracer  la 
vie  d'un  homme  qui  fut  prefet  et  directeur  de  theatre.  Cet  homme,  on  le  savait, 
possedait  parfaitement  la  science  des  expedients  et  des  ressources  en  matiere  commer- 
ciale;  il  avait  depense  en  affaires  d'argent  autant  d'esprit  que  Talleyrand  en  diplomatic, 
et  que  Napoleon  en  gouvernement.  Cependant,  apres  avoir  lutt6  avec  ses  creanciers, 
apres  les  avoir  p^tris  comme  s'ils  eussent  6te  en  caoutchouc,  il  6tait  tombe  sous  la 
faillite." 

Lovenjoul  adds  in  a  note  that  this  citation  might  equally  apply  to  another  person 
with  whom  Balzac  was  more  closely  allied,  Harel,  the  former  director  of  the  Porte- 
Saint-Martin,  who  had  at  one  time  been  the  prefect  of  les  Landes,  and  had  ended  his 
days  in  bankruptcy  in  a  mad-house  near  Paris.     See  Un  Roman  d'amour,  p.  151. 

32  See  Corr.,  p.  592. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  131 

shall  see  that  he  was  also  influenced  by  one  or  two  capital  scenes 
from  the  same  play. 

Mercadet,  we  have  seen,  is  not  a  thief,  nor  is  he  thoroughly 
honest.  In  fact,  none  of  the  world  of  jobbers,  usurers,  unlicensed 
brokers  and  creditors  who  surround  him,  save  poor  Violette,  are 
honest.  Like  Pierquin,  they  are  all  too  fond  of  their  little  refrain: 
"nous  autres,  nous  sommes  ronds  en  affaires,"^^  just  at  the  moment 
when  they  are  preparing  to  fleece  some  unfortunate  victim.  The 
servants  too  have  learned  a  lesson  from  their  master.  They  have 
not  lived  in  a  speculator's  house  in  vain;  their  eyes  and  their  ears 
have  been  constantly  open.  For  them  this  family  represents  a 
portion  of  society  to  be  scorned — the  bourgeois.  "C'est  des  gens 
qui  depensent  beaucoup  pour  leur  cuisine,"^*  says  Virginie  with 
contempt.  The  bourgeois  are  stupid  in  their  love  affairs.  ."lis  ne 
parlent  que  de  Tideal!"^^  declares  Therese,  recalling  Mariane's  reply 
to  her  mistress  in  Turcaret  when  the  latter  sighs  about  her  "tender 
leaning":  "vous  aimez  comme  une  vieille  bourgeoise."^^  Justin, 
who  has  been  with  his  master  for  ten  years,  to  borrow  Mercadet's 
own  words,  is  a  sort  of  demi-Frontin,  with  this  difference  that, 
where  Frontin  seeks  to  direct  his  dupery  even  against  his  master, 
Justin  is  content  to  remain  his  master's  faithful  imitator  and  emula- 
tor: like  master,  like  valet.  Justin  seems  but  an  echo  of  Mercadet 
at  times.  What  is  a  business  failure,  demands  Virginie.  "C'est 
une  espece  de  vol  involuntaire  admis  par  la  loi,  mais  aggrave  par  des 
formalites,"^^  replies  the  faithful  servant  of  his  master. 

On  La  Brive  Balzac  has  dwelt  with  care,  and  the  underlying 
intent  in  tracing  this  character  is  evidently  satiric.  This  gentleman 
of  fortune  under  an  assumed  name  is  a  gambler,  a  boaster,  a  dandy, 
in  Pierquin's  words,  a  "gibier  de  Clichy,"  heavily  in  debt  and  mas- 
querading with  tales  of  landed  estates  and  family  position.  Balzac 
has  made  of  him  a  fool,  whose  world  begins  at  L'Etoile  and  ends  at 
the  Jockey  Club !  He  has  taken  upon  himself  to  play  the  magnificent 
r61e  of  wealthy  son,  journalist,  and  politician.  "Vous  ^tes  un 
homme  d'esprit,  monsieur,"  says  Mercadet  to  him.     "Monsieur, 

^  Act  I,  scene  13.     Compare  with  the  following  lines  from  Scribe's  Actionnaires 
scene  9:     "moi,  qui  suis  rond  en  affaires,  et  qui  paie  toujours  comptant.  .  .  ." 
»*  Act  I,  scene  2. 

*  Act  I,  scene  3. 
"  Act  IV,  scene  2. 


132  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONOR^  DE  BALZAC 

je  suis  socialiste/'  replies  La  Brive,  like  Scribe's  political  economist 
M.  de  Montlucar.^^  Both  the  press  and  politics  are  scored  in  terms 
which  leave  no  doubt  as  to  the  author's  bitterness  beneath  the 
satire.     First  the  journalists: 

II  y  a  les  joumalistes  qui  6crivent  et  ceux  qui  n'^crivent  point.  Les  uns,  les 
redacteurs,  sont  les  chevaux  qui  trainent  la  voiture;  les  autres,  les  proprietaires,  sont 
les  entrepreneurs;  ils  donnent  aux  uns  de  I'avoine,  et  gardent  les  capitaux.  Je  serai 
propri^taire.  On  se  pose  dans  sa  cravate!  On  dit: — "La  question  d'Orient.  .  . 
question  tr^s-grave,  question  qui  nous  menera  loin  et  dont  on  ne  se  doute  pas!"  On 
resume  une  discussion  en  s'ecriant: — "L'Angleterre,  monsieur,  nous  jouera  toujours!" 
Ou  bien  on  repond  a  un  monsieur  qui  a  parle  longtemps  et  qu'on  n'a  pas  6co\ii6: — 
"Nous  marchons  a  un  abime.  Nous  n'avons  pas  encore  accompli  toutes  les  Evolutions 
de  la  phase  revolutionnaire !"  A  un  minist^riel: — "Monsieur,  je  pense  que  sur  cette 
question  il  y  a  quelque  chose  a  faire."  On  parle  fort  peu,  on  court,  on  se  rend  utile, 
on  fait  les  d6marches  qu'un  homme  au  pouvoir  ne  peut  pas  faire  lui-meme.  .  .  On 
est  cens6  donner  le  sens  des  articles.  .  .  remarques! .  .  .  Et  puis,  s'il  le  f  aut  absolument 
...  eh  bien!  Ton  trouve  a  publier  un  volume  jaune  sur  une  utopie  quelconque,  si 
bien  ecrit,  si  fort,  que  p>ersonne  ne  I'ouvre,  et  que  tout  le  monde  dit  I'avoir  lu !  On  devient 
alors  un  homme  serieux,  et  Ton  finit  par  se  trouver  quelqu'un  au  lieu  d'etre  quelque 
chose  !39 

"Helas!"  replies  his  friend  Mericourt  to  this  tirade,  "ton  programme 
a  souvent  eu  raison  de  notre  temps."     And  La  Brive  continues: 

Mais  nous  en  voyons  d'eclatantes  preuves!  Pour  vous  appeler  au  partage  du 
pouvoir,  on  ne  vous  demande  pas  aujourd'hui  ce  que  vous  pouvez  faire  de  bien,  mais 
ce  que  vous  pouvez  faire  de  mal!  II  ne  s'agit  pas  d'avoir  des  talents,  mais  d'inspirer 
la  peur!  On  est  tres-craintif  en  politique,  a  cause  des  tas  de  linge  sale  qu'on  a  dans 
des  petits  coins,  et  qu'on  ne  peut  pas  blanchir.  .  .  Je  connais  parfaitement  notre 
6poque.  En  dinant,  en  jouant,  en  faisant  des  dettes,  je  faisais  mon  cours  de  droit 
politique;  j'etudiais  les  petits  coins:  aussi,  le  lendemain  de  mon  mariage,  aurai-je  un 
air  grave,  profond,  et  des  principes!  Je  puis  choisir.  Nous  avons  en  France  une 
carte  de  principes  aussi  variee  que  celle  d'un  restaurateur.  Je  serai  socialiste.  Le 
mot  me  plait.  A  toutes  les  epoques,  mon  cher,  il  y  a  des  adjectifs  qui  sont  le  passe- 
partout des  ambitions!  Avant  1789,  on  se  disait  6conomiste;  en  1805,  on  Etait  liberal. 
Le  parti  de  demain  s'appelle  social,  peut-etre  parce  qu'il  est  insocial;  car,  en  France, 
il  faut  toujours  prendre  Ten  vers  du  mot  pour  en  trouver  la  vraie  signification  !^° 

It  is  necessary  to  recall  Balzac's  position  at  the  time  this  tirade  was 
written.  In  1840,  he  felt  probably  more  strongly  than  at  any  other 
time  the  need  of  defending  himself  against  his  enemies.  At  this 
time,  when  most  of  the  journals  and  reviews  of  Paris  were  leagued 
against  him,  he  founded  an  independent  review  in  which  he  proposed 

'*  La  Camaraderie,  ou  la  Courte  &chdle,  January  19,  1836. 

39  Act  III,  scene  5. 

^Uhid. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  133 

to  define  his  stand  in  literary,  political  and  social  questions  as  clearly 
as  possible.  He  announces  himself  frankly  royalist,  an  enemy  of 
Thiers,  of  parliamentarism,  of  the  government  by  Chambers  and 
of  the  encroaching  socialist  party.  In  the  first  number  of  his  review 
he  writes,  "Les  ouvriers  sont  I'avant-garde  des  barbares."  La  Brive 
will  be  socialist,  because  the  word  is  the  catch  phrase  of  the  moment; 
as  journalist,  he  will  be  a  master  of  that  "phraseologie  hypocrite  des 
debats  quotidiens"  which  envelops  public  affairs  ;^^  and  the  character 
can  not  have  failed  to  convey  the  satire  which  the  author  intended. 
In  closing  this  discussion  of  the  characters,  a  few  words  must  be 
said  about  the  two  lovers,  Julie  and  Minard.  The  daughter  of 
Mercadet  is  the  "jeune  fille  de  convention"  of  the  comedy,  ready  to 
end  her  days  in  a  garret  with  the  man  she  loves.  She  is  romantic, 
and  suffers  the  usual  fate  of  the  melodrama  heroine,  resigning  herself 
to  a  life  of  unhappiness,  and  in  the  end  rewarded.  The  poor  employe, 
Minard,  is  a  straightforward  lover  who  wooes  with  romantic  ardor, 
seeing  before  him  no  obstacles  to  hinder  his  affection.  However, 
after  Mercadet's  avowal  of  poverty,  he  declares  that  he  has  seen  his 
"holy  and  pure  love"  through  the  medium  of  300,000  francs  of 
dowry,  and  hesitates  to  marry  her.  But  Minard  is  prompted  by 
generosity,  unwilling  to  accept  the  girl  because  of  his  poverty.  Later 
he  uncovers  a  small  fortune  himself,  and  lays  it  gallantly  at  the  feet 
of  his  prospective  father-in-law.  Balzac  has  failed  to  make  Minard's 
generous  impulses  plain,  and  the  adapter  realized  this  when  he 
strengthened  the  generosity  and  devotion  of  the  character,  melo- 
dramatic already  in  the  hands  of  Balzac. 


The  great  interest  of  Mercadet  lies  in  its  novelty  on  the  French 
stage.  If  there  are  certain  situations  in  the  comedy  which  had  ap- 
peared already  in  French  comedy  before  Balzac,  the  author  has 
developed  them  in  a  fashion  which  is  essentially  original.  One  natur- 
ally thinks  first  of  all  of  the  helle  scene  of  the  XVIIth  century,  the  scene 
between  Don  Juan  and  Monsieur  Dimanche,  where  the  speechless 
creditor  is  plied  with  questions  about  his  family,  is  overwhelmed  with 
attentions  and  invited  to  sup,  until  he  flees  from  the  house  of  his 
debtor  without  uttering  a  word.    In  this  one  scene  of  Moliere^^  the 

*^  Introduction  to  first  number  of  la  Revue  parisienne.     July  25,  1840. 
*2  Don  Juan,  act  IV,  scene  3. 


134  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

comedy  is  concentrated  and  sparkles  with  a  verve  and  wit  which  may 
well  have  urged  Balzac  on  to  emulation. 

Coming  down  to  the  end  of  the  century,  we  find  in  Regnard's 
Joueur*^ — another  type  of  speculator  who  banks  his  money  on  the 
green  table — the  scene  of  the  convocation  of  creditors^  that  Balzac 
utilizes  in  his  comedy,  and  we  see  the  gambler  Valere  with  the  aid  of 
a  rascally  valet  outwitting  them  with  tales  of  an  approaching  marriage 
to  a  rich  woman. 

In  the  early  years  of  the  XVIIIth  century,  when  the  accumulat- 
ing of  money  was  a  disease,  and  the  epoch  was  tinged  with  the  color 
of  gold,  Lesage  left  a  picture  of  this  phase  of  contemporary  manners 
in  his  Turcaret.^^  The  place  that  Turcaret  holds  in  his  age,  Balzac 
wished  Mercadet  to  represent  in  1840,  and  the  dramatic  form  which 
he  has  chosen  is  the  same.  Like  Lesage,  he  has  written  a  comedy  of 
character,  in  which  the  situations  are  subordinate  to  the  painting 
of  one  type,  and  this  one  type  is  developed  by  a  series  of  loose  episodes, 
with  no  serious  preoccupation  given  to  intrigue."*^  Turcaret,  a 
revenue  collector  who  is  a  public  robber,  like  Mercadet  passes  off 
in  society  as  a  man  of  wealth  and  honor.  Like  Mercadet  also,  he 
has  a  taste  for  luxury,  but  the  striving  after  money  has  destroyed 
in  him  all  the  finer  sentiments.  But  the  interest  in  Lesage's  comedy 
does  not  center  about  Turcaret's  money  operations  nor  do  we  see 
him  duping  his  creditors,  and  here  is  Balzac's  point  of  departure. 
Balzac,  moreover,  has  protected  his  faiseur  from  outward  dishonesty, 
and  has  stood  firmly  by  his  side,  while  Turcaret  is  ridiculed  and 
scouted  as  a  thief  and  a  rascal,  and  his  whole  world  is  held  up  to  the 
most  biting  satire. 

The  nineteenth  century  had  also  its  faiseur s  and  public  robbers; 
before  Balzac's  day  they  were  ridiculed  from  the  stage.  At  the 
very  beginning  of  the  century,  Picard,  with  his  Duhautcoursf'  had 
waged  war  on  the  dishonest  financiers.  In  this  comedy,  Durville, 
a  banker  who  has  been  ruined,  tries  to  regain  his  footing  by  declaring 
a  business  failure  and  obtaining  a  bankrupt's  certificate  from  his 

"  Five  act  comedy  in  verse,  December  19,  1696. 

**  Act  III,  scene  7. 

*  Five  act  comedy  in  prose,  February  14,  1709. 

*^  Like  Balzac,  we  are  told,  Lesage  was  offered  large  sums  of  money  by  the  finan- 
ciers who  saw  themselves  mirrored  in  the  character  if  he  would  withdraw  his  play  from 
the  boards. — Brunetiere,  les  &poques  du  Thedtre-Franqais,  p.  196. 

<^  Written  in  collaboration  with  F.  Cheron;  prose  comedy  in  five  acts,  Aug.  6, 1801. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  135 

creditors.  Acting  in  Durville's  behalf  is  an  obscure  agent  named 
Duhautcours,  who  practises  all  the  ruses  of  a  scoundrel  to  deceive 
his  friend's  creditors.  Duhautcours  is,  however,  a  masked  figure, 
and  is  not  the  out-a,nd-o\it  faiseur  that  Balzac  has  made  of  Mercadet, 
nor  are  his  ruses  so  clever.  There  are  certain  points  of  similarity  in 
the  action  of  the  two  plays  which  lead  us  to  believe  that  Balzac 
may  have  been  influenced  by  Picard's  comedy.  Durville  has  lost 
his  money  through  the  failure  of  a  banker;  in  just  the  same  manner 
Mercadet  is  impoverished  by  his  business  associate.  Durville's 
nephew  is  in  love  with  the  daughter  of  a  struggling  merchant,  while 
Mercadet's  daughter  defies  her  father  by  choosing  for  her  affection 
a  poor  clerk.  In  both  plays  again  the  wife  recalls  her  husband 
to  the  path  of  honor,  and  saves  him  from  outright  dishonesty. 
The  dramatic  contrast  in  Duhautcours  between  luxury  and  indi- 
gence is  furnished  by  the  sumptuous  dinner  given  by  the  banker 
while  his  creditors  wait  outside.  This  bit  of  action  Balzac  has  also 
repeated  in  his  comedy. 

The  similarity  between  Scribe's  Piffart  and  Mercadet  has  already 
been  noted.  Piffart  has  the  same  audacious  schemes  to  propose, 
and  sets  to  work  with  the  same  exuberant  spirits.  This  speculator, 
enthusiastic  over  his  artesian  wells,  no  doubt  suggested  to  Balzac 
Mercadet's  scene  with  La  Brive.  Again,  the  scene  where  this  clever 
charlatan  is  brought  to  bay  by  the  stockholders  in  his  worthless 
scheme,  bears  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  same  situation  of  Balzac's 
speculator.  But  the  scene  between  La  Brive  and  Mercadet  was  also 
reproduced  in  Robert  Macaire:  the  scene  of  the  marriage  settlement 
between  Macaire  and  the  pretended  Baron  de  Wormspire.  So  close 
is  the  resemblance,  that  we  are  led  to  believe  that  Balzac  found  his 
model  here.  Robert  Macaire  is  believed  by  the  baron  to  be  im- 
mensely wealthy;  he  talks  glibly  of  his  inherited  lands,  his  Paris  home 
and  his  coal  mines.  In  similar  fashion,  the  self-styled  baron,  a 
penniless  rascal  who  is  seeking  to  palm  off  a  girl  whom  he  calls 
Eloa — a  pretended  daughter — draws  up  in  exact  figures  the  marriage 
settlement.  Balzac  remembered  this  popular  and  farcical  scene 
when  he  came  to  write  his  comedy,  and  Mercadet's  promises  to 
La  Brive  of  future  luxuries,  as  well  as  the  latter's  boasts  of  chateaux 
and  salt  marshes,  are  the  echoes  of  Frederick  Lemaitre's  genius.'*^ 

*^  Among  the  great  quantity  of  plays  dealing  with  finance  and  the  rogues  of  the 
business  world  may  be  mentioned:  Le  Speculateur,  by  F.L.  Riboutte  (June  24,  1826); 
V Argent,  by  Casimir  Bonjour  (October  12,  1826);  le  Chevalier  d'industrie,  by  A.  Duval 
(April  13,  1809);  Luxe  et  indigence,  by  D'Epagny  (January  17,  1824). 


136  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

We  see  from  the  above-mentioned  plays  that  Balzac  has  not 
been  the  very  first  to  place  a  business  intrigue  upon  the  stage,  nor  to 
center  the  interest  about  a  financial  question.  Not  only  were  other 
plays  written  earlier  in  the  century  dealing  with  the  same  problems, 
but  Balzac  seems  to  have  had  several  of  these  in  mind  when  he  came 
to  certain  scenes  in  his  own  comedy.  Still,  before  Balzac  this 
''litterature  d'affaires"  had  not  been  developed,  and  the  great 
interest  of  Mercadet  is  due  to  its  novelty  as  a  "piece  d'argent."  The 
merit  of  the  play  lies  in  the  originality  and  realism  of  its  character 
drawing.  Balzac  meant  it  to  be  solely  a  comedy  of  contemporary 
manners,  and  when  Hostein  wished  to  introduce  more  action  into  it, 
to  change  it,  as  Balzac  says,  into  a  "gros  melodrame,"^^  the  author 
was  justly  rebellious.  Mercadet,  to  all  intents,  was  to  be  a  moral 
lesson  to  the  century,  and  a  satire  on  one  phase  of  present-day 
manners.  Just  as  the  author  had  introduced  finance  in  the  novel 
with  Cesar  BiroUeau,  so  he  introduces  it  here  on  the  stage.  Here,  as 
inCesar  Birotte(iu,h.e  studies  the  newly  developed  commercial  methods 
where  speculation  succeeds  modest  business  dealings.  A  bourgeois 
Mercadet,  like  a  bourgeois  Birotteau,  has  allowed  himself  to  be 
dragged  into  the  giddy  whirl  of  these  new  methods,  and  is  ruined. 
We  witness  in  both  novel  and  play  the  repercussion  of  financial 
troubles  on  a  virtuous  and  honest  family.  There  is  in  both  the 
novel  and  the  play  the  expression  of  violent  antipathy  against 
dishonest  usurers  and  big  financiers,  "ceux  qui  tuent  une  affaire 
pour  en  profiter."^^  Mercadet  dreams  of  future  riches,  and  has 
much  the  same  imaginative  soul  as  the  old  perfumer.  Both  Mer- 
cadet and  CesaT  idolize  their  only  child,  a  daughter,  and  both  specu- 
lators have  wives  who  advise  wisely  against  their  extravagant 
dreams,  representing  the  good  sense  and  virtue  of  the  bourgeoisie. 
Plainly,  the  social  intent  is  the  same  in  both  play  and  novel.  Dra- 
matically, Balzac  has  made  here  a  wise  choice  of  subject,  for  he  is 
working  in  a  field  that  he  understands,  and  has  chosen  one  which 
offers  the  greatest  possibilities  for  a  dramatic  struggle.  Thanks  to 
its  novelty,  the  comedy  has  a  profound  interest.  As  for  its  form 
and  style,  the  faults  are  fewer  and  less  disagreeable  than  those  of  the 
preceding  plays,  while  in  composition  it  is  infinitely  superior  to  the 
others.  "II  y  a  la-dedans  du  Balzac,  du  vrai  Balzac;  il  y  en  a  beau- 
coup,"  writes  Jules  Janin,^^  the  bitterest  of  all  Balzac's  dramatic 

"  Corr.,  p.  599. 

'°  The  expression  occurs  both  in  the  novel  and  the  play. 

"  Le  Journal  des  debats,  August  25,  1851. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  137 

critics,  and  the  expression  is  true,  for  no  contemporary  was  better 
equipped  to  lift  off  the  surface  of  lying  and  scheming,  of  boasting 
and  trifled  affections,  to  show  us  the  glitter  of  gold  beneath,  than 
was  Balzac. 

It  is  in  Mercadet  that  the  younger  Dumas  later  found  inspiration 
for  his  speculator,  Jean  Giraud.^^  Closely  akin  to  Mercadet  are 
also  Augier's  parvenu,  Roussel,^^  and  his  audacious  schemer,  Vernou- 
illet.^"*  We  have  seen  how  France  was  in  the  throes  of  speculation 
at  the  time  Balzac  wrote  his  play,  how  business  methods  were 
beginning  to  develop  and  industrial  enterprises  to  make  themselves 
felt.  The  great  interest  and  the  great  novelty  of  Balzac's  play  is 
that  it  is  the  first  to  present  a  phase  of  this  activity  on  the  stage, 
to  denounce  the  corruption  of  underhand  business  methods  by 
means  of  a  character  startling  in  its  boldness  and  originality. 

'2  La  Question  d' argent. 

"  La  Ceinture  doree. 

"  Les  Effrontes.  ' 


IX 
CONCLUSIONS 

"L'auteur  dramatique  qui  connattrait  Vhomme  comme  Balzac 
et  le  theatre  comme  Scribe  serait  le  plus  grand  auteur  dramatique 
qui  aurait  jamais  existe."  So  writes  Dumas  the  younger  in  his 
preface  to  le  Fdre  prodigue.  The  expression  is  significant,  and  Dumas 
has  noted  in  Balzac  one  of  the  most  potent  of  dramatic  qualities. 
A  knowledge  of  the  greatness  and  pettiness  of  the  human  heart, 
combined  with  a  talent  for  observation  and  a  powerful  imagination, 
has  made  him  a  master  of  realistic  character  study.  What  he  lacked 
was  just  this  quality  that  has  made  Scribe  the  most  popular  drama- 
tist of  his  age:  an  innate  sense  for  the  exigencies  of  the  stage. 
"L'homme  des  plus  habiles  a  serrer  une  intrigue,  et  le  meilleur  peintre 
de  caracteres  que  nous  ayons  eu  depuis  Moliere,"  Gautier  writes  of 
his  friend.^  Where  then  has  Balzac  developed  this  dramatic  gift 
which  Gautier  and  Dumas  and  so  many  others  allow  him?  Let  us 
turn  to  the  Human  Comedy,  and  not  to  the  plays,  for  our  answer. 

In  his  Lettres  sur  la  litter ature,  le  thSdtre  et  les  arts  Balzac  has 
written  a  significant  phrase  about  the  trend  of  modern  litterature; 

La  litterature  a  subi,  depuis  vingt-cinq  ans,  une  transformation  qui  a  chang6 
les  lois  de  la  po6tique.  La  forme  dramatique,  la  couleur  et  la  science  ont  p6n6tr6  tous 
les  genres.' 

Again,  in  the  preface  to  his  first  edition  of  le  Cure  de  village,  dated 
Paris,  February,  1841,  Balzac  writes  of  his  novel: 

II  ne  s'agissait  pas  tant  ici,  de  meme  que  dans  toutes  les  Scenes  de  la  vie  de  campagne, 
de  raconter  une  histoire  que  de  repandre  des  v6rites  neuves  et  utiles,  si  toutefois  il  est 
des  Veritas  neuves;  mais  les  tentatives  insens^es  de  notre  6poque  n'ont-elles  pas  rendu 
tout  le  charme  de  la  nouveaute  a  des  v6rites  vieilles? 

Ainsi,  dans  le  plan  de  I'auteur,  ce  livre,  loin  d'offrir  l'int6r^t  romanesque,  assez 
avidement  recherchd  par  les  lecteurs  et  qui  fait  tourner  vivement  les  pages  d'un  in- 
octavo  qu'on  ne  relit  plus,  une  fois  le  secret  connu,  lui  paraissait  si  peu  int6ressant 
pour  le  gros  du  public,  qu'il  a  semble  necessaire  de  le  relever  par  une  conception 
dramatique,  empreinte  des  caracteres  de  la  v6rit6,  mais  en  harmonie  avec  le  ton  de 
I'ouvrage.' 

*  La  Presse,  November  19,  1838,     See  Histoire  de  Vart  dramatique,  Vol.  I,  p.  195. 

2  (Eumes,  Vol.  XXIII,  p.  569. 

3  Ihid.,  Vol.  XXII,  pp.  546-7. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  139 

It  is  precisely  this  "dramatic  form"  which  has  penetrated  into 
the  composition  of  many  of  the  novels  that  comprise  the  Human 
Comedy,  and  this  "dramatic  conception"  of  both  subjects  and 
characters  which  must  occupy  a  considerable  importance  in  the 
judgment  of  Balzac's  work. 

A  novel  can  possess  dramatic  qualities  only  when  the  conception 
of  subject  is  dramatic,  that  is  to  say,  when  it  is  founded  on  a  struggle 
between  two  opposing  forces.  And  not  only  so,  but  the  interest 
of  the  novel  must  be  found  in  this  struggle,  and  be  maintained  by  it. 
If  we  look  at  the  choice  of  subject  in  the  Scenes  of  Provincial  Life 
we  find  the  existence  of  this  struggle  to  a  marked  extent.  How 
often  it  is  a  feud  between  two  village  factions  which  constitutes  the 
principal  interest  of  the  story.  One  immediately  recalls  the  division 
of  the  little  city  of  Saumur  into  the  two  hostile  camps  of  the  Cruchots 
and  the  Des  Grassins,  each  fighting  for  the  hand  and  heritage  of 
Eugenie  Grandet.  Not  only  this,  but  we  have  also  in  bold  relief 
the  antagonism  of  the  equally  strong  wills  of  father  and  daughter. 
In  Pierrette,  the  martyrdom  of  the  poor  Breton  girl  is  made  apparent 
in  the  continuous  struggles  of  two  village  factions,  the  one  favorable 
and  the  other  hostile  to  the  Rogron  family.  Ursule  Mirouet  and 
her  heritage  are  the  cause  of  a  bitter  family  feud,  but  in  the  same 
novel  there  is  a  struggle  of  no  less  dramatic  interest  between  the 
atheism  of  Doctor  Minoret  and  the  fresh  faith  of  his  ward. 

In  the  domain  of  finance  and  politics  Balzac  has  also  chosen 
dramatic  subjects.  The  old  perfumer,  Cesar  Birotteau,  at  ceaseless 
war  with  his  creditors,  struggles  with  enemies  of  the  most  bitter 
sort.  In  his  book  about  the  peasants'*  we  have  described  the  ever- 
lasting antagonism  between  the  two  great  classes  of  society,  the 
rich  and  the  poor,  the  landowners  and  their  tenants.  In  the  master- 
ful Medecin  de  campagne  it  is  again  the  struggle  of  science  against 
superstition,  the  efforts  of  a  country  doctor  to  break  down  the 
religious  fanaticism  of  ignorant  peasants.^  But  it  is  probably  in 
the  Scenes  of  Parisian  Life  that  Balzac  has  depicted  most  strongly 
this  struggle:  on  the  one  hand,  an  ambitious  youth,  generally  from 
the  provinces,  penniless,  eager  for  fame  and  riches;  on  the  other,  the 

^  Les  Paysans. 

5  To  Mme  Zulma  Carraud  Balzac  writes:  "Ce  livre  vaut  h  mon  sens  plus  que  des 
lois  et  des  batailles  gagnees.  C'est  I'fivangile  en  action."  Corr.,  p.  179.  August  2, 
1833. 


140  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

relentless,  alluring  Parisian  life,  ready  to  deceive  and  corrupt.     Such 
are  the  battles  of  Rubempre,  of  Valentin  and  Rastignac. 

Society  offers  then  to  Balzac  a  wonderful  picture  of  struggle. 
His  novels  center  in  this  very  struggle,  and  are,  for  this  reason, 
dramatic.  In  a  long  letter  to  Hippolyte  Castille  he  explains  his 
intentions  in  the  following  words : 

J'ai  entrepris  I'histoire  de  toute  la  societe.  J'ai  exprimc  souvent  mon  plan  dans 
cette  seule  phrase:  *'Une  generation  est  un  drame  a  quatre  ou  cinq  mille  personnages 
saillants."     Ce  drame,  c'est  mon  livre.^ 

And  a  few  lines  later  he  declares : 

Cette  opposition  salutaire  du  bien  et  du  mal  est  mon  incessant  labeur  dans  la 
Comedie  humaineJ 

Are  we  able  to  find  in  the  characters  of  the  Human  Comedy,  so 
often  anatomically  revealed  by  massed  or  scattered  documentary 
evidence,  a  dramatic  quality?  Are  we  able  to  discover  in  the  Balzac 
hero,  aside  from  the  long  narratives  of  semi-scientiiic  nature,  aside 
from  the  curious  pathological  researches  and  financial  compilations 
about  which  the  author  is  so  often  apologetic,  the  psychological 
relief  and  clearness  that  the  theatre  demands?  It  was  Balzac's 
great  boast  that  his  characters  rival  life  itself,  they  they  stand  forth 
as  beings  of  flesh  and  blood.  If  this  is  true,  we  have  found  the 
essential  quality  which  the  theatre  demands — reality  in  character 
conception. 

What  there  is  truly  dramatic  about  the  characters  of  the  Human 
Comedy  is  the  master  passion  which  dominates  them  and  forms  the 
point  of  departure  for  the  action.  Almost  all  the  great  "premiers 
roles"  are  the  victims  of  an  overpowering  passion  which  is  revealed 
by  every  word  they  utter,  by  every  action  they  perform,  and  leads 
them  inevitably  to  the  great  crises  of  their  lives.  So  the  greed  of 
the  old  miser  of  Saumur  develops  by  a  series  of  successive  steps. 
There  is  no  trait,  no  personal  feature,  which  does  not  reflect  this 
passion,  which  does  not  serve  to  impress  this  figure  upon  our  mem- 
ories. Let  us  look  for  a  moment  at  Colonel  Chabert,  the  old  cavalry- 
man of  Eylau.  He  is  a  ''revenant"  in  every  word  and  gesture;  the. 
pathetic  figure  of  one  who  has  seen  visions  of  another  world,  who 
returns  with  a  great  longing  in  his  heart  for  the  peace  of  a  home,  and 
finds  no  place  left  for  him.     He  brings  with  him  a  message  from  a 

6  (Euvres,  Vol.  XXII,  p.  364. 
7/6wf.,  p.  368. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  141 

generation  that  is  dead  and  buried,  a  tale  of  inhuman  sights  and 
sounds,  of  valorous  engagements  and  grave-trenches,  but  nobody 
heeds  his  message.  He  is  a  ghost  that  stalks  the  strange  streets  of 
Paris.  What  there  is  intensely  dramatic  about  this  shadowy, 
unearthly  figure  is  just  this  strong  insistence  upon  unreality.  Balzac 
has  dwelt  upon  the  old  man's  pale-and  thin  appearance  as  he  stands 
in  the  shadowy  doorway  of  Derville's  office  at  an  hour  long  past 
midnight.  He  presents  a  total  absence  of  movement  and  of  expres- 
sion. His  eyes  seem  to  be  covered  with  a  film;  his  intellect  has  gone, 
and  there  is  a  tremendous  pathos  about  his  attempts  at  gaiety,  his 
forced  and  horrible  smiles,  the  pathos  that  one  feels  in  the  presence 
of  a  harmless  idiot.  And  the  curtain  falls  upon  the  old  colonel,  a 
tottering  inmate  of  the  Bicetre,  tracing  with  his  stick  lines  in  the 
gravel  walk.^ 

The  insistence  upon  the  excessive  passion  of  Baron  Hulot  for 
debauchery,  the  mania  of  Balthazar  Claes  for  chemical  research, 
serve  to  throw  these  figures  into  vivid  relief,  stamping  them  with  a 
complete  physiognomy,  so  that  they  seem  to  rise  from  the  pages  and 
appear  before  us  in  all  their  naked  reality.  This  quality  belongs 
pre-eminently  to  the  dramatist's  art. 

--  But  the  quality  of  the  dramatist  appears  not  only  in  the  concep- 
tion of  subject  and  in  the  creation  of  character,  but  also  in  the  form 
of  Balzac's  novels.  ''Un  mot,  un  cri,  dans  Balzac  suffit  souvent 
pour  donner  le  personnage  tout  entier.  Ce  cri  est  du  theatre,  et  du 
meilleur,"  writes  Zola  in  his  defense  of  naturalism  on  the  stage.* 
The  succession  of  short  scenes  in  which  the  characters  are  revealed 
by  involuntary  expressions  which  escape  them  quite  naturally, 
or  which  express  with  dramatic  force  the  overwhelming  passion 
under  which  they  are  laboring,  are  legion.  There  are  also  certain 
scenes  which,  by  reason  of  their  abridged  form  and  by  reason  of  the 
subtle  analysis  of  character  and  precise  observation  which  they 
contain,  might  easily  be  transported  from  the  novel  to  the  stage 
without  modification.  These  are  the  essential  "scenes  a  faire," 
without  which  a  play  fails  to  reach  the  heart  of  an  audience.     In 

8  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  recent  years  our  American  stage  has  offered  to 
the  public  two  plays  in  which  the  interest  centers  about  a  ghost-like  hero :  The  Return 
of  Peter  Grimm  and  Van  der  Decken,  both  plays  produced  by  Mr.  Belasco  and  acted  by 
Mr.  David  Warfield.  In  each  case  the  dramatic  intensity  is  heightened  by  the  unreal 
presence  of  a  phantom  hero. 

'  Le  Roman  experimental,  p.  149. 


142  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

them  narrative  gives  way  to  pure  action;  the  novelist  retires  for  the 
moment,  and  the  dramatist  appears.  Such,  for  example,  is  the 
scene  in  Eugenie  Grandet,  when  the  miser  demands  from  his  daughter 
the  money  which  she  has  given  her  cousin.  Such  is  the  melodramatic 
scene  in  old  Goriot's  room,  when  his  two  daughters  arrive  simul- 
taneously to  beg  for  money,  and  are  drawn  into  a  quarrel  which 
agonizes  their  aged,  doting  father.  Here  the  dramatic  interest  is 
less  concentrated,  for  the  scene  is  very  long,  and  Balzac  has  employed 
the  most  violent  pathetic  resources  to  produce  an  effect  upon  his 
audience.  The  expression  of  unnatural  hate,  as  well  as  the  fawning 
affection,  the  tears,  the  frantic  embraces,  the  heart-rending  cries, 
the  supplication  on  bended  knees,  the  Judas-kisses — are  all  calcu- 
lated to  inspire  terror  and  pity.  'Stich  is  the  scene  from  la  Duchesse 
de  Langeais,  when  the  unhappy  woman  is  brought  before  her  lover 
who  proposes  to  brand  her  with  the  infamous  mark  of  the  galley- 
convict.  Here  we  have  a  striking  example  of  the  romantic  melo- 
drama, the  "drame  populaire"  which  was  holding  the  boards  of  so 
many  of  the  Paris  theatres  of  the  epoch.  The  scene  is  thoroughly 
romantic,  and  the  characters  are  exaggerated,  but  the  elements  of 
drama  are  present:  an  anticipatory  excitement  produced  by  the 
intrigue,  where  we  ask  ourselves  what  is  going  to  happen;  and  the 
purely  physical  effects  produced  upon  our  nerves  by  the  setting. 
Such,  finally,  is  the  short  but  poignant  scene  of  farewell  between  the 
two  old  soldiers,  Hulot  and  Marshal  Cottin,  from  la  Cousine  Bette, 
revealing  with  subtle  skill  the  intimate  bond  of  friendship  between 
them,  and  calculated  to  send  thrills  of  pity  and  sympathy  through 
the  readers: 

Adieu,  Cottin,  dit  le  vieillard  en  prenant  la  main  du  prince  de  Wissembourg,  je 
me  sens  I'ame  gelee.  .  .  . 

Puis,  apres  avoir  fait  un  pas,  il  se  retourna,  regarda  le  prince  qu'il  vit  emu  forte- 
ment,  il  ouvrit  les  bras  pour  I'y  serrer,  et  le  prince  embrassa  le  marechal. 

— II  me  semble  que  je  dis  adieu,  dit-il,  a  toute  la  grande  armee  en  ta  personne.  .  .  . 

— Oui,  adieu,  car  je  viis  ou  sont  tous  ceux  de  nos  soldats  que  nous  avons 
pleur^s.*" 

In  such  scenes  as  these  the  novelist  and  his  narrative  retire  for 
the  moment,  the  documentary  framework  of  the  novel  drops,  reveal- 
ing moments  of  action  and  dialogue,  unmarred  by  useless  detail, 
which  might  be  transferred  without  the  change  of  a  word  to  the 

^^■La  Cousine  Bette,  CEuvres,  Vol.  X,  p.  305. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  143 

stage.     Once,  giving  an  analysis  of  la  Chartreuse  de  Parme,  Balzac 
wrote  the  following  phrase : 

Les  portraits  sont  courts.  Peu  de  mots  suffisent  a  M.  Beyle,  qui  peint  ses  person- 
nages  et  par  Taction  et  par  dialogue;  il  ne  fatigue  pas  de  descriptions,  il  court  au  drama, 
et  y  arrive  par  un  mot,  par  une  reflexion.^^ 

And  how  often  Balzac  has  done  the  same  thing  himself! 


We  are  now  prepared  to  ask  why  Balzac,  who  in  his  novels 
possesses  to  such  a  high  degree  the  dramatic  gift,  who  has  penetrated 
character  so  finely,  and  has  exhibited  such  powers  of  observation, 
should  have  failed  when  he  approached  the  stage. 

His  failure  is  due  to  several  causes. 
'/  First  of  all,  the  novelist,  who  had  toiled  with  such  herculean 
labor  towards  the  perfection  of  his  style,  whose  whole  literary  career 
was  marked  by  progress  based  on  past  defeats,  put  little  of  this 
immense  effort  into  his  plays.  We  have  seen  how  a  number  of  the 
plays  were  written  to  relieve  pressing  financial  conditions,  while 
the  author  was  at  the  same  time  overwhelmed  with  work  on  the 
Human  Comedy.  As  a  result,  this  theatrical  approach  became 
feverish  and  careless.  "C'est  toujours  le  temps  qui  me  manque," 
was  the  repeated  cry  of  the  dramatist.  Lacking  time,  and  in  des- 
perate need  of  money,  he  did  not  undertake  with  seriousness  the 
primary  tasks  of  a  playwright:  the  careful  working  out  of  his  scenario, 
the  grouping  of  his  scenes  into  acts,  the  determination  of  the  succes- 
sive steps  of  his  intrigue.  He  seems  never  to  have  had  a  clear  vision 
of  dramatic  psychology  with  which  to  start  his  task,  and  his  charac- 
ters were  improvised  in  haste.  In  spite  of  his  excellent  and  clearly 
defined  critical  notions  about  the  contemporary  stage,  he  had  him- 
self no  fixed  ideas  about  writing  plays.  He  was  swayed  by  popular 
opinion,  and  acceptrd  the  most  varied  advice  from  his  friends.  In 
the  beginning,  we  have  seen  him  appealing  to  various  authors  for 
help,  without  first  setting  himself  to  the  task.  Gautier,  Laurent- Jan, 
Ourliac  and  Lassailly  helped  him  in  the  composition  of  Vautrin. 
With  assurance  he  was  ready  to  take  the  type  that  had  made  Henry 
Monnier  famous,  and  to  make  his  Prudhomme  the  only  Prudhomme. 
To  Gautier  again  he  went  for  help  with  Richard  Cosur-d'eponge. 

1^  La  Revue  parisienm,  September  25,  1840.     (Euvres,  Vol.  XXIII,  p.  735. 


144  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

It  was  especially  in  moments  of  financial  depression  that  Balzac 
wrote  for  the  stage.  At  such  times  as  these,  he  was  influenced  by 
popular  productions  and  sought  to  amuse  his  audiences  by  writing 
parts  for  popular  actors.  So  we  find  him,  after  Lemaitre's  immense 
success  in  Robert  Macaire,  writing  for  him  the  romantic  role  of  a 
convict  purified  through  love,  the  part  of  a  drunken  carpenter  in 
Richard  Coeur-d'eponge,  and  the  adulterous  husband  in  Vl^cole  des 
menages.  For  the  melodramatic  talent  of  Mme  Dorval  he  wrote  the 
part  of  Brancadori  the  courtezan,  and  of  Gertrude,  seeing  with  bitter 
disappointment  the  latter  role  given  to  another  actress.  To  Pereme, 
he  writes  that  the  success  of  VEcole  des  menages  depends  on  securing 
a  certain  young  actress  whom  he  sought  for  the  part  of  Anna.^^ 

Balzac  was  influenced  by  the  romantic  drama,  and  later  by  the 
"drame  de  cape  et  d'epee,"  but  he  felt  that  he  was  unable  to  master 
the  scenic  effects  of  the  historical  play,  and  after  Quinola  it  was" 
abandoned.  Historical  tragedy  cast  aside,  there  was  the  ever 
popular  melodrama,  and  it  was  in  this  field  that  he  courted  his  public. 
With  no  single  fixed  tendency,  his  drama  then  reveals  a  confusion  of 
theories. 

To  catch  popular  favor  Balzac  proposed  to  write  for  popular 
actors  after  popular  forms.  What  then  is  the  result  of  this  frivolity? 
A  bourgeois  tragedy  after  the  style  of  Mercier  and  Diderot,  with  a 
mingling  of  emotional  melodrama — VEcole  des  menages  and  la 
Mar  aire -J  an  appeal  to  the  romantic  imaginations  of  those  who  like 
to  see  the  purging  of  a  criminal  soul  by  nobility — Vautrin;  a  historical 
spectacle  after  the  manner  of  Dumas,  with  excessively  romantic 
characters — Quinola;  a  frank  melodrama — Pamela  Giraud.  In  none 
of  these  plays  has  Balzac  risen  above  the  forms  already  in  vogue,  and 
in  none,  with  the  exception  of  Mercadet,  which  must  stand  alone,  is 
there  an  attempt  to  apply  the  rigorous  realism  exhibited  in  the 
Human  Comedy,  or  the  verity  of  character  composition  which  would 
have  made  him  the  forerunner  of  Augier. 

A  still  more  weighty  reason  for  Balzac's  failure  on  the  stage  was 
his  lack  of  knowledge  of  theatrical  construction.  His  novelistic 
methods  were  a  constant  hindrance  to  him,  consequently,  the  plays 
lack  proportion  and  measure.  Quinola,  for  example,  contains  a 
prologue  of  fourteen  scenes;  in  the  same  play  there  are  nineteen 
scenes  in  the  first  act,  twenty-two  in  the  second,  twenty  each  in  the 

"  December  11,  1838.    Cited  by  Lovenjoul,  Autour  de  Honore  de  Balzac,  p.  130. 


THE  BEAM  A  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  145 

third  and  fourth  acts,  leaving  six  to  complete  the  long  and  tiresome 
action.  The  greatest  fault  of  la  Mardtre,  a  play  which  contains 
none  the  less  some  of  the  best  dramatic  scenes  that  Balzac  has 
written,  is  just  this  lack  of  restraint.  The  greatest  fault  of  Mercadet 
also,  we  have  seen,  is  the  superabundance  of  dialogue.  In  the  wealth 
of  material  which  suggested  itself  to  the  dramatist  he  found  the 
greatest  difficulty  in  choosing  the  significant  traits,  and  in  exposing 
them  with  relief.  He  became  hopelessly  confused  in  documentation; 
he  threw  out  countless  suggestions  which  were  never  followed  out; 
in  other  words,  he  was  attempting  to  express  by  the  drama  what 
might  better  have  been  'said  in  the  novel.  The  dramatic  talent, 
of  which  we  have  such  ample  proof  in  the  Human  Comedy,  was  slow 
to  develop  into  what  we  may  call  the  theatrical  talent.  The  novelist 
who  succeeded,  after  years  of  patient  toil,  in  making  his  characters 
live  and  in  building  an  intrigue,  was  unable  to  forsake  the  looser 
framework  and  compress  his  action  into  the  rigid  form  demanded  by 
the  stage. 

Writing  in  haste  after  popular  models,  Balzac  has  failed  in 
the  delineation  of  character.  His  stage  figures  have  all  the 
serious  exaggerations  of  the  extravagant  heroes  of  the  Human 
Comedy  without  that  subtle  analysis  which  makes  such  figures 
tolerable  in  the  novel.  Under  the  influence  of  the  romantic  drama 
Vautrin  and  Fontanares  were  conceived,  exceptional  beings,  weighed 
down  by  fatality,  lacking  the  lyricism  and  the  poetry  which  permit 
such  creations  to  live  in  the  plays  of  Hugo  or  Dumas.  Gerard  is  a 
shadowy  Baron  Hulot,  whose  senile  passion  before  the  footlights 
is  grotesque  rather  than  vicious.  Adrienne  Guerin,  conceived  by 
the  author  first  as  a  female  Tartuffe,  is  represented  finally  as  a 
romantic  heroine  purified  through  her  struggle,  and  become  generous- 
hearted;  a  safe  appeal  to  an  unlettered  public.  Gertrude,  a  char- 
acter so  dramatically  set  forth  in  the  first  two  acts,  develops  into 
the  same  sort  of  melodramatic  heroine,  a  creature  of  violent  emotions, 
lacking  all  repose  and  restraint. 

Mercadet,  of  all  the  characters,  and  of  all  the  plays,  remains 
worthy  of  Balzac's  name.  Completed  after  the  failure  of  his  first 
dramas,  a  play  which  had  been  revised  and  reworked  at  various 
times,  this  comedy  displays  a  serious  interest  in  the  stage,  and  reveals 
the  fact  that  the  author  had  acquired  by  perseverance  and  patience 
a  knowledge  of  theatrical  exigencies.  Balzac  chose  as  his  subject  a 
phase  of  contemporary  life  with  which  he  was  familiar.  We  feel  here 
for  the  first  time  the  keen  and  penetrating  interest  of  the  author 


146  THE  DRAMA  OF  H0N0R1&  DE  BALZAC 

of  Cesar  BirotteaUj  at  work  in  a  dramatic  field.  Moreover,  here  for 
{  the  first  time,  in  spite  of  the  promise  which  la  Mardtre  gives,  Balzac 
I  has  worked  out  a  play  along  realistic  lines.  He  has  made  Mercadet 
j     the  forerunner  of  the  modern  money  play.     Here  for  the  first  time 

is  treated  the  relation  of  money  to  domestic  happiness,  the  clouding 

of  a  man's  moral  sense  by  the  dubious  manipulation  of  funds.  The 
f     interest  in  this  financial  question  has  led  Balzac  to  the  painting  of  a 

single  character,  a  character  of  present-day  society,  based  upon  the 

author's  own  observation. 


Balzac's  failure  to  grasp  a  proper  theatrical  perspective  has  been 
the  common  lot  of  novelists  writing  for  the  stage,  and  the  history 
of  the  drama  abounds  in  such  failures.  The  inability  to  compress 
action  into  such  limits  as  are  set  by  the  stage  and  the  ignorance  of 
dramatic  conventions  are  only  too  apparent  in  the  sentimental 
comedies  of  George  Sand.  Zola,  staunch  upholder  of  the  natural- 
istic drama,  might  well  have  contented  himself  with  his  social  and 
scientific  novels  instead  of  offering  them,  lugubrious  and  ghastly, 
before  the  footlights.  Sir  Arthur  Wing  Pinero,  in  a  study  of  the 
drama  of  Robert  Louis  Stevenson,"  has  pointed  out  several  reasons 
for  this  novelist's  lack  of  success  on  the  stage:  the  inability  to  realize 
that  a  play  must  be  the  product  of  hard  labor,  and  consequently  a 
levity  of  approach;  an  ignorance  of  the  art  of  the  theatre  and 
of  dramatic  fitness.  We  are  struck  by  the  similarity  of  causes 
between  Balzac's  failures  and  those  of  Stevenson.  Like  Stevenson, 
Balzac  did  not  find  the  time  to  develop  the  dramatic  talent  which 
was  latent  in  him  and  fit  it  to  the  stage;  nor  did  he  cast  aside  as 
unworthy  the  outworn  models  which  he  slavishly  followed,  but 
whose  faults  he  fully  recognized.  Like  the  Scotch  novelist,  Balzac 
was  a  great  enough  critic  to  realize  that  a  play  like  Vautrin  was  after 
all  a  shoddy  melodrama,  a  sort  of  "act-it-or-let-it-rot"  piece,  to  borrow 
Stevenson's  phrase  about  his  own  adaptation  of  Robert  MacaireM 

At  the  close  of  his  life,  with  the  Human  Comedy  near  completion, 
and  with  a  clear  and  definite  comprehension  of  the  dramatist's 
task,  Balzac  writes: 

La  sculpture  est  comme  I'art  dramatique,  a  la  fois  le  plus  difficile  et  le  plus  facile 
de  tous  les  arts.  Copiez  un  modele,  et  I'oeuvre  est  accomplie;  mais  y  imprimer  una 
ime,  faire  un  t)^e  en  representant  un  homme  ou  une  femme,  c'est  le  p6ch6  de  Pro- 
m6thee.i5 

^'  Robert  Louis  Stevenson  as  a  Dramatist.     Publications  of  the  Dramatic  Museum 
of  Columbia  University,  no.  4,  1914. 
1*  Letter  to  Henley,  1885. 
^  La  Cousine  Bette,  (Euvres,  Vol.  X,  p.  196. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

I 
WORKS  OF  BALZAC 

(Euvres  completes,  edition  definitive.     Paris,  Michel-L6vy  freres,  1869-76,  24  vol. 

Cf.  particularly  Vol.  XVIII:  Theatre,  third  edition,  1870;^  also.  Vol.  XXIV: 

Correspondance  (1819-1850),  1876. 
VJ^cole  des  menages,  tragedie  bourgeoise  en  cinq  actes  et  en  prose,  pr6c6dee  d'une 

lettre  par  le  vicomte  de  Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul.     fidition  originale.    Paris, 

L.  Carteret,  1907. 
(Euvres  posthumes,  Lettres  d  V  etrangere  (1833-1844) .   Paris,  Calmann-Levy,  1899-1906, 

2  vol.2 

II 
CRITICAL  WORKS 

Barriers,  Marcel,  VCEuvre  de  Honore  de  Balzac,  itude  Uttiraire  et  philosophique  sur 

la  Com6die  humaine.    Paris,  Calmann-Levy,  1890. 
Beaulieu,  Henry,  Les  Theatres  du  boulevard  du  crime.    De  Nicolet  d  Dejazet  (1752- 

1862).    Paris,  Daragon,  1905. 
BiRi;,  Edmond,  Honore  de  Balzac.    Paris,  Champion,  1897.' 

Chateaubriand,  Victor  Hugo,  Honore  de  Balzac.    Lyon,  Emmanuel  Vitte,  1907. 

La  Presse  royaliste  de  1830  d  1852.    Alfred  Nettement.    Sa  vie  et  ses  oeuvres.    Paris, 

Lecoffre,  1901. 
BoxjTF^,  Mes  Souvenirs  (1800-1880).    Paris,  Dentu,  1880. 
Brazier,  Nicolas,  Chroniques  des  petits  theatres  de  Paris,  reimprimSes  avec  notice^ 

variantes  et  notes  par  Georges  d'Heylli.    Paris,  fid.  Rouveyre  et  G.  Blond,  1883, 

2  vol. 
Brisson,  a..  Portraits  intimes,  5«  s6rie.    Paris,  Colin,  1901. 
Brunetiere,  Ferdinand,  Les  Epoques  du  ThSdtre-Fran^ais  (1636-1850).     Paris, 

Hachette,  nouvelle  Edition,  1896. 

Honore  de  Balzac,  4«  Edition.    Paris,  Calmann-L^vy,  1906. 

La  Litterature  franqaise,  1«  serie,  appendice,  p.  297:  Honor i  de  Balzac,  conference 

faite  d  Tours,  le  7  mai,  1899.* 
Celler,  Ludovic,  Les  Valets  au  thedtre.   Paris,  J.  Baur,  1875. 

1  First  edition:  Thedtre  complet,  un  volume  in-12,  chez  Giraud  et  Dagneau,  1853. 
— Vautrin,  les  Ressources  de  Quinola,  Pamila  Giraud,  la  Mardtre.  In  this  edition,  the 
prefaces  to  Vautrin  and  Quinola  were  not  published.  Le  Faiseur,  un  volume  in-12, 
chez  Cadot,  was  published  the  same  year. 

Second  edition:  Thedtre  complet,  un  volume  in-8,  chez  Mme  Houssiaux,  1855. 
Same  as  first  edition,  with  prefaces.  In  1865,  le  Faiseur  was  added  to  this  edition. 
The  casts  were  published  only  in  the  third  and  definitive  edition. 

2  In  the  present  study  the  two  volumes  of  Lettres  d  V  etrangere  are  denoted  by  LEi. 
The  abbreviation  for  the  volume  of  Correspondance  is  Corr. 

3  Chapters  VIII,  IX  and  X,  le  Theatre  de  Balzac,  appeared  originally  in  le  Quin- 
zaine,  December  1-15,  1895,  and  January  1,  1896;  chapters  XI  and  XII,  la  Comedie 
humaine  au  thedtre,  in  le  Correspondant,  October  25, 1895. 

*  Article  originally  appeared  in  le  Temps,  May  8,  1899. 


148  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONOR E  DE  BALZAC 

Cerfbeer,  a.,  and  Christophe,  J.,  Repertoire  de  la  Com6die  humaine,  avec  une  intro- 
duction de  Paul  Bourget.    Paris,  Calmann-L6vy,  1887. 
Champfleury,  see  Fleury. 
DouMic,  Ren:^,  De  Scribe  d,  Ibsen.    Paris,  Perrin,  1896. 

Essais  sur  le  thedtre  contemporain.    Paris,  Perrin,  1897. 

Etudes  sur  la  literature  f ran  qaise,  4®  s6rie.    Paris,  Perrin,  1900. 
Duval,  G.,  Frederick-Lemaitre  et  son  temps.    Paris,  Tresse,  1876. 
Faguet,  fiMiLE,  Etudes  litteraires  sur  le  XIX^  siecle.   Paris,  Soci6t6  frangaise  d'im- 

primerie  et  de  librairie,  1887. 

Propos  de  thedtre.    Paris,  Oudin  et  Cie,  1903-10,  5  vol. 

Propos  litteraires,  3®  s6rie.    De  Vinfluence  de  Balzac.    Paris,  Soci6t6  frangaise 

d'imprimerie  et  de  librairie,  1905. 

Balzac,    fidition  des  grands  6crivains.    Paris,  Hachette,  1913. 
Ferry,  Gabriel,  Balzac  et  ses  amies,  2«  Edition.    Paris,  Calmann-L^vy,  1888. 
Flat,  Paul,  Essais  sur  Balzac.    Paris,  Plon-Nourrit,  1893. 

Seconds  Essais  sur  Balzac.    Paris,  Plon-Nourrit,  1894. 
Fleury,  Jules,  [Champfleury],  Grandes  Figures  d'hier  et  d'aujourd'hui.     Balzac, 

Gerard  de  Nerval.    Paris,  Poulet-Malassis  et  De  Broise,  1861. 

Balzac.    Documents  pour  servir  d  la  biographie  de  Balzac.    Paris,  A.  Patay,  1875- 

9. — Balzac  proprietaire,  1875;  Balzac  au  college,  1878;  Balzac,  sa  mHhode  de  tra- 
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Gaiffe,  F.,  £,tude  sur  le  drame  en  France  au  XVIII^  siecle.    (Paris  diss.)    Paris,  Colin, 

1910. 
Gaillard,  Henry,  &mile  Augier  et  la  comedie  sociale.    {Paris  diss.)    Paris,  Bernard 

Grasset,  1910. 
Gauteer,  TniioPHiLE,  Portraits  contemporains,  3«  edition.    Paris,  Charpentier,  1874. 

Histoire  de  Vart  dramatique.    Paris,  Hetzel,  1858-9,  6  vol.^ 
GiNiSTY,  Paul,  Le  Melodrame.    Paris,  Louis-Michaud,  1910. 
GiRARDiN,  Saint-Marc,  Cours  de  littSrature  dramatique.    Paris,  Charpentier,  1855-74, 

5  vol. 

Gozlan,  L]^on,  Balzac  chez  lui:  souvenirs  des  Jardies.    Paris,  Michel  L6vy,  1862. 

Balzac  en  pantoufles.    Paris,  Michel  L6vy,  1865. 
GuEX,  J.,  Le  Thedtre  et  la  societe  franqaise  de  1815  d  1848.     {Lausanne  diss.)    Vevey, 

Imprimerie  Sauberlin  et  Pfeiffer,  1900. 
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Houssaye,  Arsene,  Les  Confessions  {1830-1890).   Paris,  Dentu,  1885-91, 6  vol. 
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6  vol. 

« Articles  reprinted  from  la  Presse. 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  149 

Lawton,  Frederick,  Balzac.    London,  Grant  Richards,  1910. 
Le  Breton,  Jules,  Balzac,  Vhomme  et  VoBuvre.    Paris,  Colin,  1905. 
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Paris,  Chez  I'auteur,  1888,  2  vol. 
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Ubrairie,  1898-1901,  10  vol. 
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Paris,  Lecoffre,  1854,  2  vol. 
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Le  Thedtre  d'hier.      Etudes  dramatiques,  litUraires  et  sociales.     Paris,  Lecene, 

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150  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONOR E  DE  BALZAC 

Spoelberch  DE  LovENjouL,  Charles  vicomte  DE,  Histoire  des  ceuvres  de  Honor S  de 

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Les  Lundis  d'un  chercheur.    Paris,  Calmann-Levy,  1894. 

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THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  151 

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152  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

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Sauvage,  T.,  "Les  Ressources  de  Quinola."    Le  Moniteur  universal,  March  23,  1842. 

"Mercadet  le  faiseur."    Le  Moniteur  universel,  August  26, 1851. 
Second,  A.,  "La  Centieme  Representation  de  Mercadet."    Le  Constitutionnel,  June  18, 

1852.14 

Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul,  Charles  vicomte  de,  "Les  Aventures  de  V  £,cole  des 
menages."    Le  Figaro,  September  11,  12,  13,  14  and  16,  1895.1^ 
"Orgon,  comedie  de  Honore  de  Balzac."    Le  Figaro,  May  21, 1899. 
"A  Propos  de  la  recherche  et  de  la  physionomie  des  noms  dans  I'oevre  de  Honor6 
de  Balzac."    Journal  des  debats,  February  7  and  8,  1895.^^ 

Thierry,  Ed.,  "Les  Ressources  de  Quinola."     La  France  litteraire,  April  3,  1842. 

^  Same  article  translated  for  the  Century,  May,  1914. 

1*  Reprinted  in  1858  in  a  volume  of  the  same  title.    See  supra. 

^  Reprinted  in  Autour  de  Honore  de  Balzac,  pp.  91-195.    See  supra. 

!•  Reprinted  in  Un  Roman  d' amour,  pp.  113-158.    See  supra. 


APPENDIX! 
I 

Cromwell 
The  complete  manuscript  of  Cromwell,  a  tragedy  in  five  acts  and 
in  verse,  is  found  in  the  Collection  Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul,  at  Chan- 
tilly:  A  49.  It  consists  of  68  sheets,  written  on  both  sides,  of  which 
numbers  13,  14,  27,  28,  43,  64,  65  and  68  are  blank.  Scene  5  of  act 
III  and  scene  2  of  act  IV  do  not  exist. 


On  the  last  page  of  his  manuscript,  fol.  67  verso,  Balzac  has  left 
several  interesting  notes  relative  to  the  sources  of  certain  scenes  in 
his  drama. 

The  second  scene  of  act  II,  in  which  Charles  I  meets  his  wife 
disguised  in  ragged  garments,  after  a  long  and  grievous  separation, 
Balzac  tells  us  was  inspired  by  the  scene  from  Euripides'  Phoenician 
Maidens  between  Polynices  and  his  mother,  Jocasta.  The  long 
monologue  from  act  IV,  we  learn,  was  also  inspired  by  Euripides. 
Henrietta's  imprecations  from  act  V,  in  which  she  vows  vengeance 
against  England  and  her  enemies,  Balzac  declares  was  inspired  by 
Virgil's  Dido — yEneid,  Book  IV — and  by  Corneille's  Camille — Horace, 
act  IV,  scene  5. 

The  list  of  characters  reads  as  follows: 

CROMWELL 

PERSONNAGES 

Charles  I^',  roi  d'Angleterre 

Marie  Henriette,  sa  femme 

Strafford,  fils  du  nainistre  d6capit6 

Lord  Fairfax,  general  parlementaire 

Cromwell 

Ireton,  gendre  de  Cromwell 

Lambert,  major  de  l'arm6e  de  Cromwell 

Fleetvold 

Barclay 

Bradshaw  /    principaux  amis  de  Cromwell; 

Harrisson  )  personnages  muets 

Ludlow 

Thurloe 

Falcombridge 

^  For  the  material  on  Cromwell  and  Richard  Cceur-d^  eponge  in  this  appendix  I  am 
indebted  to  Monsieur  Georges  Vicaire,  Curator  of  the  Collection  Spoelberch  de  Loven- 
joul, at  Chantilly,  through  whom  I  obtained  the  authorization  to  have  photographed 
several  pages  of  each  manuscript,  and  to  Monsieur  Marcel  Bouteron,  Librarian  of  the 
Institut  de  France,  whose  notes  accompanying  the  photographs  have  proved  inval- 
uable. 


154  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

Percy       ) 

Lambot   >  membres  du  Parlement 

Suffolk     ) 

Tous  les  membres  du  Parlement 
La  scene  se  passa  a  Westminster. 
Le  quatrieme  acte  se  passe  dans  la  Salle  des  seances  du  Parlement.    Les  autres 
actes  sont  dans  I'endroit  de  Westminster  oijl  se  trouve  I'entree  des  tombeaux  des  rois 
d'Angleterre. 


CROMWELL 

MONOLOGUE  OF  CHARLES  I 

Act  II,  Scene  I 
Le  Roi,  seul 
Heureux,  cent  fois  heureux,  s'il  connait  son  bonheur, 
Celui  qui,  loin  des  cours,  a  su  fuir  la  grandeur! 
S'il  n'a  pas,  au  berceau,  le  poids  d'une  couronne, 
(Que  le  Ciel  nous  ravit,  pour  montrer  qu'il  la  donne!) 
II  ne  vit  pas  d'erreurs!  il  n'eut  pas  a  signer 
Le  supplice  de  ceux  que  j'ai  dii  condamner, 
Et  s'il  cultive  en  paix  son  modeste  heritage, 
De  toute  ma  tempete,  il  n'a  que  le  nuage!  .  .  . 
Vous  tous  qui  gouvernez,  m6ditez  sur  mes  vers, 
Ce  que  vient  d'y  graver  le  Roi  de  I'univers: 
"II  ne  vous  sufl&t  pas  de  ceindre  un  diademe, 
"Pour  avoir  la  science  et  regner  par  vous-m6me, 
"Dans  I'histoire  des  temps  apprenez  les  legons 
"Que  ma  puissante  mais  adresse  aux  nations. 
"En  son  ordre  immuable,  imitez  la  nature, 
"De  votre  coeur,  en  tout,  ecoutez  le  murmure; 
"J'ai  fait  la  conscience  un  tribunal  aux  rois, 
"Et  tout  I'erreur  des  cours  n'6touffe  pas  sa  voix! 
"Elle  vous  dit  assez  que  la  sainte  justice 
"Ne  doit  pas,  en  aveugle,  ob6ir  au  caprice, 
"Qu'elle  ne  vous  rend  pas  majestueux  et  grands, 
"Pour  etre  a  vos  sujets  des  eternels  tyrans.  ..." 

In  the  margin,  at  the  head  of  this  monologue,  Balzac  has  written: 

J'ai  I'intention  de  changer  en  totalite  ce  monologue.    II  est  trop  long,  et  ne  cor- 
respond pas  a  la  noblesse  du  caractere  du  roi. 

II  .  . 

Richard  Cceur-D'Eponge 

In  1835,  Balzac  mentions  a  play  which  was  to  occupy  his  atten- 
tion for  a  number  of  years.     He  writes  to  his  sister  in  October  of 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  155 

that  year  that  he  is  completing  a  novel  called  la  Fleur-des-pois,^ 
and  also  a  play,  Richard  Coeur-d'eponge.^  The  latter  statement  is 
incorrect,  for  only  fragments  of  this  play  were  ever  written  and  pre- 
served by  their  author.^  These  fragments  have  become  the  property 
of  the  Institut  de  France,  forming  a  part  of  the  Lovenjoul  collection 
at  Chantilly.^ 

The  oldest  versions  of  Richard  Co3ur-d'eponge  antedate  1835  and 
the  letter  mentioned  above.  Of  these  primitive  sketches,  the  first 
contains  only  portions  of  a  first  act  through  scene  five,  which  is 
incomplete,^  while  the  second  contains  merely  a  clean  copy  of  the 
first  three  scenes.^  The  casts  of  these  original  versions  read  as 
follows : 

First  Version  Second  Version 

Richard,  6b6niste  Richard,  tapissier 

Godeau,  marchand  d'acajou^  Godeau,  marchand  de  meubles 

Duval  pere,  foumisseur  Duval  pere,  ancien  fournisseur 

Anatole  Duval,  son  fils  Anatole  Duval,  son  fils 

Finnin,  domestique  Marignac  [  jeunes  gens,  amis 

Braulard,  ouvrier  Verville    )d' Anatole 

Julie  Richard  Firmin,  domestique 

Marignac  Braulard,  ouvrier  menuisier 
Verville 

La  schne  est  dans  I'appartement  de  Le  premier  acte  se  passe  k  I'hdtel  de 

Duval  fils,  a  la  Maison  Duval.  Duval  p^re,  dans  I'appartement  de  son 

fils. 

In  1835,  Balzac  did  little  work  on  his  play  which  he  then  planned 
to  make  a  two-act  comedy,  with  the  title  role  for  the  actor,  Bouffe. 

'  Title  under  which  le  Contral  de  mariage  was  first  printed. 

3  Corr.,  p.  225. 

*  Lovenjoul,  in  Autour  de  Honors  de  Balzac,  p.  57,  mentions  the  possible  existence 
of  a  complete  version  of  the  play:  "Nous  possedons,  datant  d'6poques  bien  diff6rentes, 
de  nombreux  fragments  de  Richard  Cceur-d'  6ponge,  dont  I'auteur  s'occupa  toute  sa 
vie,  et  dont  la  seule  version  complete,  remise,  dit-on,  a  Fr6d6rick  Lemaitre,  aurait, 
parait-il,  6te  perdue  par  lui." 

^H.  de  Balzac:  Richard  Coeur-d' eponge.  Fragments.  Manuscrit  incomplet. 
Collection  Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul,  A  208.  This  manuscript  consists  of  63  sheets,  of 
which  numbers  8  to  13,  20  to  30,  46,  48,  52,  55  and  60  are  blank. 

®  Contains  nine  pages  and  cast. 

'  Contains  eight  pages.  In  this  version  Balzac  mentions  three  other  theatrical 
projects:  la  Fille  et  la  femme,  la  Veille  et  le  lendetnain  (3  acts  and  6  tableaux),  and 
Gobseck. 

8  Balzac  utihzed  the  name,  Godeau,  in  Mer cadet,  giving  it  to  the  missing  business 
associate  of  the  stock-jobber. 


156  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONOr£  DE  BALZAC 

He  drew  up  a  new  list  of  characters,  and  wrote  one  scene  for  the  two 
lovers.^    The  cast  reads  as  follows: 

PERSONNAGES  ACTEURS 

Richard,  surnomme  Coeur-d'6ponge,  6b6mste Boufi 

Lemomd,  entrepreneur  en  bailments,  ami  de  Richard Verville 

Adele,  fille  de  Richard Euginie  Sauvage 

Adrien  de  Vaudrey Paul 

Justin,  son  valet  de  chambre Bordier 

Jules  de  Marignac Allan 

Bonebault,  premier  ouvrier 

Ouvriers,  etc 

La  scene  se  passe  au  faubourg  Saint- Antoine,  k  Paris,  dans  la  boutique  de  Richard. 

Richard  est  un  homme  de  cinquante  ans.  Lemoine  en  a  trente-six  environ.  Ce 
sont  deux  amis  intimes,  ^  la  vie  a  la  mort.  Richard  a  pour  sa  fille  une  passion  aveugle. 
EUe  est  la  plus  belle  personne  du  faubourg.  Elle  a  vingt  ans.  Adrien  de  Vaudrey 
est  un  jeune  homme  de  vingt-cinq  ans,  d6guis6  par  amour  pour  Adele  en  ouvrier,  et 
qui,  depuis  un  an,  apprend  I'^tat  d'6b6niste. — L' action  a  lieu  au  commencement  du 
Consulat. 

In  1840,  Balzac  made  another  venture  with  his  play,  this  time 
writing  a  plan  of  the  first  act,  the  opening  scene  of  the  first  act,  a 
part  of  a  scene  between  Richard  and  his  daughter,  and  a  monologue 
by  Richard.  On  this  occasion  the  play  was  offered  to  Frederick 
Lemaitre,  but  the  latter  refused  it.  His  reasons  are  set  forth  in  the 
following  letter  which  Balzac  wrote  to  Mme  Hanska: 

Frederick  Lemaitre  a  repousse  mon  drame  de  Richard  Cceur-d'eponge  en  disant 
que  la  paternity  6tait  un  sentiment  egoiste  qui  avait  peu  de  chances  pour  un  succ^s 
aupres  des  masses.  II  n'a  pas  6te  d'ailleurs  content  du  denouement,  et  comme  il  faut 
ne  lui  donner  a  jouer  que  ce  qu'il  aime  a  jouer,  il  a  bien  6t6  de  n6cessit6  de  chercher  une 
autre  piece.  Elle  est  enfin  trouv6e,  et  je  vous  6cris  au  milieu  des  travaux  que  necessite 
Mercadet}"^ 

Balzac  was  finding  much  difficulty  with  the  composition  of  his 
play,  and  for  this  reason  he  searched  about  for  outside  aid.  Theophile 
Gautier  offered  to  help  him  arrange  it  for  the  Theatre  des  Varietes." 
On  the  last  day  of  the  year  1845,  the  two  met  at  dinner  at  the  home  of 
Delphine  Gay — Mme  de  Girardin — to  discuss  the  project  with  Nestor 

^  This  version  contains  altogether  eleven  pages. 

"  LEL,  Vol.  I,  p.  536.    May  10,  1840. 

"  Corr.,  p.  458.  November  20,  1845.  See  also  letter  to  Mme  Hanska,  dated 
December  12,  1845,  and  published  in  la  Revue  des  deux  mondes,  March  15,  1920,  a 
part  of  which  reads  as  follows: 

"Demain,  je  vais  avec  Glandaz  k  la  Conciergerie.  [Theophile]  Gautier  veut  me 
servir  de  g^cheur  pour  la  piece  Richard  Coeur-d'iponge  et  le  directeur  des  Vari6t6s 
livre  sa  troupe.  II  est  vraisemblable  que  je  risquerai  cette  partie,  tout  en  finissant 
les  Paysans,  et  [que]  je  n^gocierai  pour  la  prime,  k  la  Comedie-Francaise.  II  faut  tant 
d'argent!" 


THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC  157 

Roqueplan,  director  of  the  Varietes,  at  the  conclusion  of  which  it  was 
agreed  that  there  was  no  pressing  need  to  complete  the  play,  and  it 
was  abandoned. 12 

A  final  page  of  manuscript,  containing  a  proposed  cast  of  Richard 
Cosur-d'' eponge  for  the  Theatre  Historique,  was  prepared  by  Balzac 
after  the  opening  of  that  theatre  in  1847,  and  reads  as  follows: 

Richard  Duret,  dit  Cceur-d'6ponge,  6b6niste Socage 

Pintard,  marchand  de  bois  des  iles Rog^ 

Mayer,  foumisseur  Bignon^^ 

Paul  Mayer,  son  fils Laferriere 

Christophe,   ouvrier Lepetit{?) 

Jacques  Milon,  valet  de  chambre Monrose^^ 

Joseph  Guichard  J  ^^g^^p^^l 

Adolphe  Petit      ) 

Carmagnole,  domestique  de  Mayer Gaspari 

C^cile  Duret Mme  Albert 

3  ouvriers 
2  domestiques 


RICHARD  C(EUR-D'£PONGE 

OPENING  MONOLOGUE  FROM  THE  EARLIEST  VERSION 

Acte  Premier 

Scene  Premiere 

Firmin  (seul) 

Voici  done  le  jour  de  la  vengeance  arrive.  Enfin!  Ah,  vieux  p^re  Duval,  autre- 
fois domestique  comme  moi  chez  le  due  de  Drancey,  tu  es  devenu  foumisseur  de  ta 
Republique,  riche  a  millions,  et  tu  t'es  moqu6  de  moi,  tu  m'as  laiss6  domestique,  tu 
m'as  jou6  en  faisant  mettre  k  ton  nom  seul  le  trait6  des  fourrages,  et  tu  m'as  demand6 
si  j 'avals  des  fonds,  moi  qui  alors  6tais  tout  puissant  aux  Jacobins!  .  .  .  Et  puis,  au 
moment  ou  j'allais  vous  faire  guillotiner,  nous  avons  eu  le  malheur  de  perdre  ce  bon  et 
excellent  Monsieur  de  Robespierre!  .  .  .  Et  je  suis  retombe  dans  la  crotte  au  moment 
oii  j'allais  dire  aupere  Duval:  la  moiti6de  ton  quibus,  ou  ta  tete.  .  .  .  Ena-t-ilfait 
du  chemin  depuis  ce  temps-la?  II  a  achete  des  hdtels,  des  biens  nationaux,  et  est  116 
avec  Monsieur  de  Barras.  Son  fils  est  I'ami  de  Madame  de  Bonaparte.  .  .  .  Les 
citoyens  directeurs  ne  jurent  que  par  lui,  et  le  voila  dans  les  secrets  du  general  en  chef 
des  armees  d'Orient  qui  va  peut-6tre  confisquer  tout  a  son  profit.  ...  II  va  devenir 
un  personnage,  et  moi,  je  reste  valet  de  chambre,  moi  qui  ai  plus  d'esprit  que  lui; 
mais  j'ai  jou6  de  malheur,  et  je  pensais  au  pouvoir  quand  il  briguait  a  I'argent.  .  .  . 

^2  Corr.,  pp.  486-7.  January  4, 1846.  See  also  letter  of  Mme  de  Girardin  to  Balzac, 
pubhshed  by  Lovenjoul  in  la  Genese  d'un  roman  de  Balzac.    Les  Paysans,  p.  253. 

^3  Creator  of  Fontanares,  in  les  Ressources  de  Quinola,  at  the  Odeon,  March  19, 
1842. 

1*  Creator  of  Quinola  at  the  Od6on,  March  19,  1842. 


158  THE  DRAMA  OF  HONORE  DE  BALZAC 

III 

Prose  Plan  of  "Orgon,"  Act  I 
Spoelberch  de  Lovenjoul  has  published  in  Le  Figaro,  May  21, 1899, 
the  following  fragment  of  Orgon,  a  projected  play,  the  first  act  of 
which  was  versified  by  the  poet,  Amedee  Pommier,  following  faith- 
fully a  prose  version  made  by  Balzac.  Except  for  one  page  of  this 
version,  which  is  reproduced  below,  a  list  of  characters  and  a  few 
notes  made  by  the  author,^^  all  trace  of  Balzac's  Orgon  has  been  lost. 

Scene  Premiere 
Dorine,  Damis 

Dorine. — ^Monsieur,  vous  fites  bien  de  servir  le  Roi,  et  Thabit  de  mousquetaire 
vous  sied;  vous  avez  bonne  fagon;  mais  de  la  vie  militaire  prenez  le  bon,  laissez  le 
mauvais.  Vous  avez  affaire  a  des  seigneurs  qui,  sur  I'article  de  d6s  et  cartes,  en  savent 
plus  que  vous.  Deux  fois  d6ja  j'ai  pris  sur  moi  de  parler  a  votre  p^re.  Mais,  pour 
cette  derniere  fredaine,  je  n'y  puis  rien.  Adressez-vous  a  Mme  votre  grand'm^re, 
Mme  Pernelle,  qui,  maintenant,  est  la  seule  qui  ecoute. 

Damis. — Les  affaires  d'honneur  ne  souffrent  pas  de  retard,  et  je  quitterai  la  com- 
pagnie  apres  m'^tre  battu.  Ce  sera  plus  cher,  car  il  faudra  quitter  le  royaume,  et  mon. 
p^re  sera  plus  chagrin  de  ceci;  sans  compter  mon  entretien  ^  I'dtranger. 

Dorine. — Et  pourquoi  jouez-vous? 

Damis. — Je  suis  mousquetaire. 

Dorine. — N'y  a-t-il  que  du  jeu?  .  .  . 

Damis. — ^Le  jeu  .  .  . 

Dorine. — Quelques  soupers  a  la  Pomme-de-Pin?  Vous  donnez  tous  aussi  par 
trop  de  soucis  a  ce  pauvre  M.  Orgon!  Pour  madame,  ce  sont  a  chaque  instant  ajuste- 
ments  nouveaux.  EUe  est  de  toutes  les  fetes  et  ne  fait  plus  qu'i  sa  tete.  Votre  sceur 
et  Valere  voient  la  belle  compagnie,  qui  vient,  va,  mange,  et  vous  avez  tous  des  raisons 
k  donner.    Le  maitre  seul  a  tort. 

Damis. — N'en  parlons  plus.  J'emprunterai;  ce  sera  bien  plus  dommageable,  car 
I'usurier  est  cher  en  diable! 

Dorine. — AUons,  je  tacherai  de  le  bien  disposer. 

Damis. — Done,  tu  lui  demanderas  ces  mille  pistoles? 

Dorine. — Tudieu!  Vous  allez  vite  en  paroles!  Croyez-vous  qu'on  extrait  cet 
argent  d'un  vieillard  soucieux,  exigeant,  etc.,  en  lui  disant:  "Votre  fils  vous  demande 
mille  pistoles;  donnez-les  lui!"  Une  pareille  demande  fait  tout  refuser.  Le  voici. 
Laissez-moi  faire.    De  toutes  les  manieres  de  demander,  la  directe  est  la  plus  mauvaise. 

Damis. — C'est  vrai,  rien  ne  va  droit  dans  la  nature,  ni  le  soleil,  ni  la  femme. 

Scene  Deuxieme 
Les  memes,  Orgon 
Dorine,  d  Damis. — II  a,  vous  le  voyez,  mal  dormi.    Ce  n'est  pas  un  beau  r6veil, 
que  de  lui  dire:  "Votre  fils  a  perdu  cette  nuit."    Vous  avez  eu  la  joie,  et  c'est  ^  nous 
qu'il  en  cuit. 

Orgon. — J'en  6tais  sur;  des  que  je  suis  chouche,  ma.  .  .  . 

August  14,  1920. 
«  See  p.  30. 


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